Never Jet Alone
by SPDudley
Summary: Two years after Third Impact the pilots have managed to get their lives back together. But a runaway atomic-powered robot, a messianic cult, and a suspicious profiteer from the past all find a way to get the gang in trouble. Dangerous but fun story set in the Blue Rose storyline
1. Prologue

Standing thirty stories high JetAlone stared into the darkness of the steel hanger it was now confined in. A gargantuan testament to supposed Japanese technological superiority in red and white metal, JetAlone had been created to become Japan's defender and a shining, dynamic avatar of the "New" Japan built after the Second Impact catastrophe. But after a disastrous maiden deployment that ended in failure and embarrassment the giant robot had been deactivated and decommissioned and consigned to its home in the outskirts of Old Tokyo on the former engineering testing grounds of the Japan Heavy Chemical Industries Corporation (or JHCI).

Because JetAlone contained a heavy water nuclear reactor as its primary power source, the robot couldn't simply be disassembled because of the several kilograms of uranium at its reactor core that could not be safely removed without extensive and expensive efforts. Instead JetAlone just sat inside of its old hanger collecting dust while the former owners of JHCI fought each other in the courts about who owned it and who would have the rights to either demolish it or try and re-start the research project anew.

Now JetAlone was only a footnote in a much larger saga, and if anyone on the street was asked what "JetAlone" was most would be hard pressed to remember anything about it. A few might recall that it was a competing prototype to the Evangelion, but nothing more than that.

But ask those same persons "what was Evangelion" and then you'd get an answer from just about anyone: gigantic biomechanical units, some piloted by anonymous teenagers, that were used to fight the so-called "Angels," meta-physical monsters from parts unknown and then later to fight amongst each other to the near destruction of the Earth itself. Even three years after the Angel War, the Evangelions still filled the human imagination with awe and dread, and the events of that war were so wide-reaching that everyone still had a strong opinion on it.

Time had passed however and three years later even Evangelion was less in the news and now more the subject of history and of popular culture. The world had strived to put the horrors of the war behind them and the UN, one-world government was gone as were the old, evil men behind it. Those who remained on Earth felt freer than they had been in a long while and had set about recreating the world and trying to put as much distance between themselves and the very unpleasant memories of the recent past. And that rush to a better future had left JetAlone behind, alone and abandoned in its steel eggshell, a titanic-sized testament to human failure. So, the white and red painted robot stood silently and waited for its fate.

As JHCI was still in litigation hell a holding company named Murobachi Combine had the current legal custodial rights to the JHCI assets, including JetAlone, but Murobachi couldn't do anything with JA as the robot became to be called until the lawsuits were finished. So, it simply padlocked the steel hanger where it remained and posted a solitary guard on it.

On a cold February night Takeru Shoji drew the short stick and was posted to stand guard outside JA's hanger. Takeru was one of several security guards hired by Murobachi to secure the old JHCI grounds, and each week they'd take turns to randomly draw out who got to guard JA. Because of JetAlone's still functioning if dormant nuclear reactor it was a thankless task to stand there for eight hours strapped to a radiation monitor and "guard" a fifty-meter tall robot, so the job was assigned by drawing straws. That night Takeru drew badly and ended up standing in front of the hanger.

Dressed in a dark blue security uniform with parka, gloves, and a wool cap, Takeru looked around to see if anyone else was in view. The JHCI testing facility was several kilometers long, and with only a handful of hired guards and no one else here he found himself practically abandoned, much like JA itself he mused. Seeing that the coast was clear, Takeru broke with the facility rules and pulled out a cigarette and lit it in the cold, breezy night.

 _What a stupid job this was_ , the guard thought to himself as he looked down at the small electronic box harnessed to his utility belt. The unit was a Geiger detector, warn in case anything happened with JA's reactor. There was a slight amount of activity that crackled and lit up the unit the whole night, as JA still had highly enriched uranium in its fuel rods. _So much for me having healthy kids_ , he cursed as he took a long drag from his cigarette and blew out the smoke into the night.

Takeru couldn't help but think of an old comedy movie from England set in medieval times, one he had seen while he was younger. In the film there was a ridiculous scene where a guard is arguing with his master about what his job was, and a misunderstanding ensues where the guard thinks he is guarding another guard instead of some prince. _That's what I'm doing here_ , he thought, _why the hell do I have to guard this thing, like someone's going to just walk in and steal it?_ _I'm pretty sure you turned that thing on it could take care of itself, yeah?_

He took another long drag on his cigarette and then heard a slight crackling sound. Looking down onto his belt Takeru saw the radiation monitor had significantly spiked up.

 _What the hell_ , he wondered as the needle on the Geiger counter jumped far to the right. _Did JA's reactor just suddenly go haywire?_ Before he could do anything else the guard heard a loud banging against the steel walls of the enclosure and looked upward. Takeru could see dents being formed in the steel walls high up in the structure that were being created from inside the hanger.

The guard fumbled for his radio as the banging became louder. Suddenly there was a deafening crash and the giant steel doors in the structure bent out and away from the edges, being pried open by two giant mechanical hands. Takeru looked upwards and saw a glowing light shining from JA's head, its visual sensors were turned on with lights facing forward, and it was moving.

"HOLY SHIT!" the guard screamed as he rushed to get out of the giant robot's way as he wrestled with the radio controls while panicked. Takeru finally got the radio out and working, and then shouted into the microphone to his supervisor.

"JA! JA's moving!"

An annoyed voice came back on the audio. "Seriously, Takeru? Are you smoking weed again?"

The guards screamed back the reply as he watched the robot tear its way out of the hanger and step outside. "JA's fucking moving, I tell you! It just broke out of the hanger!"

"So what do you want me to do?" The annoyed voice came replied. "Call the Air Force? NERV? Ultraman?"

As he argued with his disbelieving supervisor, Takeru watched as JetAlone stood on the concrete tarmac and looked around. The robot then swiveled towards the northwest and then started walking briskly, its gargantuan arms swinging as it picked up speed. With its long stride it only took a few seconds for JA to make its way out of the compound and into the darkness of the Kanto plain.

Frustrated with his supervisor's attitude, the guard screamed into the radio microphone as he watched JA run out of view "I'm telling you again, you moron! Jet Alone has escaped!"


	2. White Swan

_Three months earlier…_

Patrick Forrestal stood outside of the theatre, waiting anxiously for his guest. Everyone else had gone inside about twenty minutes earlier and he did not want to miss the show himself but needed to be sure everyone made it in that needed to.

He heard motorcycle noises coming from the entry gateway of the parking lot and turned his head towards the roar. Seeing who just rode in brought a smile to his lips and he jogged over as the cycle parked just before the driveway curb. Riding the cycle was a young woman with a black leather jacket and pants, and a pink-colored helmet. As Patrick hustled over to this guest he saw the helmet had a "05" emblazoned just above the visor and chuckled. _Just like her to do that._

The rider pulled off her helmet and straightened her red-rimmed eyeglasses, brushing her auburn-brown hair behind her as Patrick arrived. "Hello, you!" She called out cheerfully, and Patrick quickly put her into an embrace.

"So good to see you again!" Patrick told her as he released her. "I was afraid you weren't going to make it at all."

"Well I couldn't miss this, could I? Are any of the others here?" Mari Illustrious Makinami hooked up her motorcycle helmet to a latch on her bike and then walked over to the theater entrance with Patrick.

"Unfortunately, no. Shinji and Asuka couldn't make it with school and all."

"That's disappointing. What about your better half?" Mari referred to Patrick's twin sister Erin.

"Oh, you'll see her too. She's inside!" As they walked to the entrance doors Mari read the sign posted at the front.

THE NEW INSTITUTE DANCE COMPANY PRESENTS

"SWAN LAKE"

FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY

On the poster was an illustration of a girl in a white costume in a dance arabesque pose, and Mari knew that she recognized the girl as soon as she saw her. "Did they start already?"

"They're into the first act already but she's not in that one. Hurry, it'll be any second now!"

The two of them slipped into the darkened, crowded theatre as Patrick led Mari to their reserved seats. On the state the ballet was in between acts so the giant red velvet curtains were drawn and there was still applause for the first act that had just completed. They seated themselves as the applause died down, barely getting comfortable before the lights were focused on stage and the red curtains parted open.

The background of the stage was set in a lake at midnight, with a moon painted on it that eerily reflected its light. Gently prancing onto the stage was a young man of Asian descent, perhaps about seventeen or eighteen, in a white prince's costume, and in his hands he held a crossbow. He slowly moved around to the music, acting as though he was hunting something in the distance. Something crossed into his vision and he took aim with the crossbow, but then suddenly held back.

Leaping onto the stage was another young girl, who appeared perhaps sixteen or seventeen in age. Petite and slender, she wore a white costume and tutu, with white feathers in her hair. She had pale skin, slender shoulders, and tiny, delicate hands and feet but most uniquely her hair was colored azure blue, drawn up in a bun from behind. Upon seeing the ballerina Mari drew a breath in surprise.

"No wonder you wanted me to show up to this," she whispered to Patrick. "She's beautiful!" Patrick looked back at her with wide eyes, happy to be privileged to see this. "Just watch," he whispered back.

As part of her recovery from the events of years past, Rei Ayanami, known as the First Child and the first of the Evangelion pilots, had studied ballet and quickly took a liking to it. After three years her skills had progressed substantially enough to take on the leading role of _Swan Lake_ , that of the doomed Princess Odette. Onstage she gently and gracefully danced and pirouetted with the male lead, playing Prince Siegfried, as hunter encountered his surprising game in the midnight of the cursed lake.

If anything, Rei played the role remarkably well, not only in her dancing but also in her dramatic presentation. She looked at times mournful, sorrowful, but also curious and hopeful as she joined and parted and joined again with the prince. Patrick watched on as Rei danced and leapt and again formed in graceful duet with Siegfried and wishing in the back of his mind that maybe he shouldn't have blown off the earlier offer for dance lessons after all. To him Rei was all that he practically lived for and seeing her being able to perform like this for an audience just made his own heart leap.

The performance continued, and Odette called upon the other Swans, all dressed like her in white tutus as they entered the stage. A dozen girls in all spun and leapt in unison. Looking carefully among the other girls, Patrick pointed out one to Mari. "There she is!" he whispered.

A group of four of the swans moved to the front of the stage and then joined hands, and then quickly did a very tightly coordinated set of vertical leaps to the music. It was the work of girls who had practiced for months in skillful synchronicity but one of the girls, with blonde hair and bright emerald-green eyes, seemed to really enjoy the dance.

"Oh, my goodness, she's great!" Mari said as she recognized Erin on stage within the group of four Swans. Their mini performance lasted perhaps three minutes and was met with rapturous applause from the audience, Mari and Patrick included.

Finally, the act ended and Odette and Siegfried regrettably parted, Odette being turned back into a Swan, which Rei mimicked with graceful but bird-like strokes of her arms, and she gently made her way offstage as the music rose and the curtains drew closed. There was again applause and the lights turned on inside of the auditorium.

Mari was suitably impressed. "That was amazing! I knew she worked hard, but I didn't realize she was that good." Patrick smiled back at her. "If it wasn't for her science studies I'd think she do that full-time."

"And Erin too! I didn't think this was her sort of thing."

"I think she wanted the challenge," replied Patrick. "Not bad for just being here a few months."

"And what about you?" Mari pried a little. "Why aren't you on that stage yourself?"

Patrick sighed a little, perhaps not realizing until now what a missed opportunity was. "I….kinda thought this was sort of, you know…"

"…girly."

"Yeah. Something like that."

"So, you get to watch as some other guy gets to manhandle her on stage like that. Nice job!" They both laughed at Mari's half-serious observation.

"Well, I'll hopefully get my chance with her later tonight. Only this time with no audience."

"Right," Mari replied with a smile.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure Prince Siegfried is actually gay."

Mari looked at him with a smirk. "You just hope, lover boy."

After a few minutes the lights dimmed again, and the curtains again parted, the stage being lit with spotlights. The setting had changed, and now the backdrop painting was that of a palace. Dancers representing male and female members of a royal court came on stage, and the Prince came with them.

There were several acts among the party guests and then suddenly the royal procession was crashed by an uninvited guest: a young woman in a black tutu. She was the mirror image of Princess Odette, with black feathers in her hair, and she was aggressive and sharp in her moves. It was Odile, the Black Swan.

Traditionally in _Swan Lake_ the Black Swan was played by the same dancer who played Odette, making the role one of the most challenging in ballet. In this presentation that too was done, and Rei's blue hair starkly contrasted with the black colors of the outfit, her pale white skin and her glowing red eyes, giving her a deeply mysterious and dark appearance. It was captivating to Patrick, as even in rehearsal Rei's appearance didn't look as she did now onstage.

Odile's role in the ballet was to steal away the Prince from Odette by seducing him. Rei took on the role to surprising effect, confidently prancing in front of the prince and stealing his attention. She used her hands to touch and move him as if she as manipulating him like a puppet, something which Patrick found astonishing.

 _She's not just dancing the role but she's really getting into the character, acting dark and mysterious and seductive. Does she really have all of that in her? This is a whole other side of Rei I haven't seen before._

The Black Swan continued her efforts until joining into a _Pas de Deux_ duet with the prince, gaining his affections and for the moment purging his memory of the Swan Princess. With the trap sprung, Odile's father, the sorcerer Rothbart appeared as a giant Owl (represented by a male dancer in an Owl costume) and used his magic to attack the royal party. Plumbs of smoke and flashes of light appeared as on-stage special effects as the other dancers ran in chaos, while the Black Swan and Rothbart make their escape with the Prince in pursuit.

The curtains closed again, and the lights went on momentarily as the stage changed to the final scene of the ballet. Mari looked on in amusement. "Well, that wasn't quite something I expected from our Angel Girl," she told Patrick.

"Yeah," Patrick mused, still stunned by Rei's performance.

"Maybe you need to be more careful," Mari quipped.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "might be fun to have the Black Swan show up once in a while."

The lights went dim again and spotlights focused back on stage as the backdrop was changed back to the cursed lake. Rei was on stage again as Odette, with her costume again changed to all-white as the other swans surrounded her. What happened next was a short but dramatic sequence that portrayed a battle between the sorcerer Owl and the prince. The two of them fought, ballet style (which consisted of some dramatic jumps and lunges next to each other) as the swans looked on and Odette tried to help the Prince. As Rothbart gained the advantage of the Prince and he fell to the stage wounded, the wizard was about to make a killing strike when Odette leapt in between them, taking upon herself the full force of the imaginary magic blow. Odette then slowly collapsed into a crouch on stage as the prince made one final swipe and vanquished the evil magic owl, then attended to his fatally wounded love.

The last few seconds of the ballet, highlighted by Tchaikovsky's dramatic score being played by the school's orchestra, were heart-wrenching as a dying Odette reached out to forgive her love the prince. Rei played the part well, gently caressing the prince's face in affection and then enclosing herself in a final pose of death onstage, folding her body against her legs and hiding her head in repose. The other swans all danced slowly and pay tribute to their lost queen as the prince knelt at her side. The orchestra played the final few notes and then the spotlight slowly went dim on stage.

For a moment the audience was silent and then applause roared through the crowd, and within a few seconds everyone was on their feet. Mari stood and clapped enthusiastically, shouting "Bravo! Bravo!" as Patrick rushed to the aisles, two bouquets in his hands. The curtains parted again and now the entire student dance company was on stage, with Rei at the center. Each member of the cast took their bows on stage and when it came time for Rei's turn, Patrick tossed his bouquet of roses as far as he could. The bundle of blue roses landed at Rei's feet as she looked on at the cheering audience. For her part Rei didn't smile much or even wave, but simply stoically stood on stage and listened to the reception.

Erin got her own chance to bow on stage and Patrick was sure to toss her bouquet. Erin however caught hers, and cheerfully waived it in the air while the audience gave her applause for her own part. Then the curtains were again pulled shut, and the lights fully came on over the auditorium.

It took about a minute for Patrick and Mari to link up and find their way backstage. After a little more sifting through the crowds of students and well-wishers, Patrick found Erin standing with a group of the other swans, all of them elated and relieved at the end of the performance.

"Hello, you!" Mari shouted as they found Erin, and they both went into a big embrace.

"Lusty!" Erin shouted in surprise. "I didn't know you were coming!"

"Your other half tipped me in and here I am. You were wonderful!"

"Thank you," Erin said as Patrick gave her a firm and lengthy hug. "You were great!"

"I was sooo nervous about that."

"You did just fine."

"Me nothing. Rei was fantastic!" Before the two of them could say anything else, a tall, muscular boy with curly black hair and a darker complexion found Erin and immediately gave her a hug, practically pushing Patrick and Mari away as he did so.

"Bueno! My Darling, Bueno!" he said to her and then before Erin could say anything else the boy promptly put a big kiss on her lips, much to Erin's and everyone else's surprise.

"Uh, thanks!" Erin then saw the shocked look of Mari's face and filled her in with the rest of the story.

"Oh, sorry. Lusty, this is Diego. Diego, Mari Illustrious, one of my friends from Japan."

The boy immediately put on a friendly expression and took Mari's hand. "Charmed. You are Japanese, no?"

"A bit, and thank you," Lusty said without missing a beat. "Tigress, you didn't mention a new _beau_?"

"Sorry, it's just been so busy this last month. Lots of stuff happened." Patrick was still standing there however and didn't have nearly as friendly of an expression as Lusty had. "Hi, Diego."

"Ah, sorry my manners. Hello, Mister Forrestal. Your sister dances well."

"She sure does." Patrick then turned to Erin. "You free for later tonight? Now that we got a guest here from out of town."

"Um, sure I…." Erin began to say but Diego cut her off. "Actually, my darling, I was thinking we'd celebrate at Camerones tonight, the two of us," he emphasized as he looked at Patrick.

"That's great, but Mari came from London-2 and…"

"But I've made reservations and while I know it's a bit of a surprise, I'd hope you'd be free."

Erin looked on for a moment, unsure of what direction to take until Mari made it easier on her. "No worries, _darling_ ," she said in a playfully mocking tone, "I'll be here until at least tomorrow, so we'll have plenty of time to catch up on things."

"Hey," Patrick asked the group, "by the way has anyone seen Rei?"

"She's still in the dressing room, probably," said Erin. "I didn't see her come out."

"Then excuse me and I'll catch up with all of you in a bit." Patrick then hurriedly ran off from the group.

As he watched Patrick leave, Diego asked Erin. "Shall we go, darling?" Before Erin could agree Mari again interjected.

"Say, are you having Mexican _Seafood_ by any chance?"

Diego was taken aback by the question. "Why…yes, but…"

"I just realized that I've not had that in such a long time and I'd rather like to join you. Would you horribly mind?"

"But I…"

"Of course!" Erin exclaimed, realizing Mari's ruse and playing along. "You came all this way and we can't disappoint. Right, Diego?"

Seeing his defeat, the tall Latin boy let himself compromise. "Of course, anything for you, and during dinner you can fill me in more about your adventures in Japan with your friend here."

"We'd be delighted. Come on Tigress, let's go."

"What about Patrick?"

"I think he's waiting for the encore performance," Mari quipped.

* * *

Rei sat at her dressing room table quietly taking off the makeup from her face. She was alone in the room. There was a knock at the door and Rei turned to the front but didn't answer, as she already knew who it was.

The door opened, and Patrick slipped in, carefully closing it behind him. He himself wore a blazer and slacks tonight, wanting to look nice for his own love's performance, while Rei was still wearing her dance costume. Gently moving towards her Patrick bent down and gave Rei a lengthy kiss in reward for her effort that evening.

"Did you like it?" she asked in her soft, whisper-like voice.

"Amazing. Not just the dancing but, wow, you really got into the roles. What do _you_ think?"

"I'm exhausted."

Patrick noted that the bouquet of roses that he gave Rei was joined by several others, as now it seems she may have a few others that at least admired her. "Do you want to go back out there and meet your fans?'

She looked up, her red eyes fixed on him. "Any way we can just avoid the crowd?"

 _Anything for you_. Patrick searched the dressing room, found the window and promptly opened it. Checking outside to see if there was anyone who saw them, he saw no one and then motioned to Rei to come to the window. She grabbed a black-colored wool wrap sweater and a small handbag and stood up from the dressing room mirror, leaving the flower bouquets behind.

Patrick crawled through the window and dropped to the ground, perhaps one floor. He then stood carefully as Rei maneuvered her way out the open window, and then neatly dropped into Patrick's arms below. The boy didn't let her go, but instead sensed she was indeed quite tired and allowed her to ride on his back like a little girl worn out from too much playtime. Quietly they made their way from the theatre grounds and into the university housing district that was next door.

It was already November in Cambridge, Massachusetts where the New Institute was located, so the evenings were chilly and in no small part windy, and trees had long lost their fall foliage. Rei put her arms around Patrick's neck to help support her as he carried her past the theatre parking lot and across a street into the area where the university's faculty and staff had their own living quarters. It was a dark night, with only a sliver of a moon and starlight to illuminate the sky.

The two of them didn't say much to each other on the journey, but Patrick liked the feeling he had now, with Rei's warmth behind him and her arms and legs wrapped around him. She held him tightly as they continued.

As they travelled Patrick looked around and saw that they weren't completely alone. Far in the distance but still visible to him were silent figures of adults dressed in dark clothes, at least one on either side of them. The ever-present security detail, he knew, would be shadowing them as they always did, and had managed to catch up to the couple despite their escape from the theatre.

They would walk about another fifteen minutes through various housing complexes, many of them done in New England Cottage style homes with narrow lots and two or three stories high. It was a picturesque journey and Patrick was glad for the prettiness of the neighborhood, as student housing at the New Institute was made up of more generic-looking, massive buildings that once housed technicians and engineers working at NERV's former First Branch. But he noticed Rei seemed less interested in the neighborhood and felt she might even fall asleep on the way.

Suddenly she nudged just a bit, squeezing Patrick a little bit more. She said to him, "Forri-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"Am I a burden on you?"

"No," Patrick flatly declared. "You're never a burden."

"I can walk if you need me to."

"No, I'm glad to carry you all the way."

Despite the load Patrick pressed onward and arrived at their destination just a few minutes later. There was a larger Craftsman-type house on one of the housing lots painted in green and white, and behind it a loft that was accessed by a simple set of wooden stairs. Patrick took the entire flight in one strained lift, with Rei still on his back until the last rung.

She slipped off his back and onto the stairway, and then turned the door handle and pushed it open.

"You didn't lock it?" Patrick asked?

"Bad habit," Rei softly replied and walked inside. Patrick waited just outside, hesitating to make sure if Rei wanted him to come in or not. But within a few seconds she didn't say anything to him as she made her way through the loft apartment, so he determined it was permissible and went inside, closing the door behind him. Rei turned on a lamp as he did so to give her place some light and proceeded to untie the straps on her white satin pointe shoes and remove them.

Rei's apartment was arranged in a way that matched its tenant's previous living quarters. The furniture in the wood-floored space was sparse, only a simple wooden desk and a few chairs, and an iron-rod bed of small size pushed to one corner. There were no rooms in the place, but a small kitchenette with a few new appliances, and a walk-in closet and bathroom at the end. There was a single rug in the center, and the walls were mostly bare and painted a simple white. A pair of small bowls were against the wall, along with a small cushion.

There were perhaps three items that gave the room some sort of identity to its occupant. One was a set of photos mounted in frames that were mounted on top of a bookcase, photos consisting of all the people that were important to Rei, including Patrick and Erin, as well as Shinji, Asuka, Misato, Misato's young son Akira, and others at NERV that she knew. The second item was the bookshelf itself, which was packed to the gills with books of all kinds, on an extremely diverse number of subjects ranging from quantum physics and chaos theory to history and religion, but also much more mundane topics such as poetry, flower arrangement, birds and mammals, child development, cooking, literature of all kinds, and even humor (on that topic there were several volumes, all well-read). The third object was a large, newly acquired painting that hung on one wall, and that couldn't help but catch Patrick's immediate attention.

" _Dogs Playing Poker_?" he asked.

"I just saw that yesterday," answered Rei as she took off her sweater. "It was intriguing."

"No house can be without it," Patrick quipped.

Rei stood at the kitchen sink and gently wiped her face with water, removing the rest of the stage makeup she wore as Patrick waited patiently a few feet away. The light in the loft wasn't very bright, but just enough for him to admire her silhouette as she worked to get herself cleaned up.

 _She's beautiful just doing anything, even simply washing herself._

"Are you still tired?" he asked her, trying to get a bead on her current mood.

"I'm okay," she said as she turned from the sink. She gently walked up to him, barefoot on the wooden floor. Rei leaned in on Patrick, resting her head on his chest as she finally let herself relax while his arms came around her and held her tight.

"If I didn't say so earlier, you were great tonight," Patrick told her. She didn't look up at him but kept her head against the side of his chest, pressed close enough to hear his heartbeat. "I'm just glad that it's done."

They remained there standing in the middle of the dimly-lit apartment for a long, silent moment. Patrick squeezed her harder in the coolness of the night, knowing what he wanted, and hoping it by some miracle might come this night.

"Anyway, you probably want to rest," he told Rei, hoping that it wasn't entirely true. "Should I let you be?"

"No," came her answer at practically a whisper. "You can stay."

Patrick looked down at her, caressing her hair with his right hand and then slowly moving down to her arm as he gently brushed the skin on her neck. Rei drew a deep breath and gently moved away just a little, slipping off her wrap sweater to reveal the white satin leotard underneath. She then slipped off the tutu and let it drop to the floor. Rei said nothing, but just looked up at Patrick with her red eyes, using her hands to caress his face on both sides. With that invitation, Patrick picked her up in his arms as she tightly wrapped her legs around him, and they went into a slow, deep kiss in the shadows.

It took just a few more seconds for them to reach the bed, which they then promptly flopped on and rolled over it, their arms, legs, and lips still locked with each other. Make-out sessions were not uncommon for the couple, but to Patrick tonight seemed like an opportunity for something more. He hoped he wasn't pushing his luck too far.

They locked hands and continued their deep kisses as Rei moved on top of him in the bed. She then parted the kiss and leaned back, sitting him with her legs on either side of him, their hands still locked with each other's. Patrick could see her petite figure in the low light, the gentle slope of her shoulders, and the delicate form of her breasts. He prayed that he could see more tonight.

 _How to ask her this without being too obvious about it_ , Patrick wondered to himself. _She's acting affectionate tonight, so maybe something's changed…._

"So, um," he started, "any news from the lab?"

Rei certainly knew where Patrick was leading with the question, so she remained quiet for a moment and then rolled herself off Patrick and then snuggled by his side. She liked him like this, when they could be alone and without distractions. She knew what he wanted after two years of being together. She also knew what she had to tell him.

"Hormonal therapy is continuing," she told him with only a hint of emotion in her voice. "It's only been three months since we've started the latest stage."

Patrick tried to act casual. "Any progress?"

"Estrogen was increased to 275%, but Progesterone has been cut out in order to allow this stage to progress further," she explained.

"Your breasts are bigger now," Patrick quipped.

Rei's eyebrows raised up in surprise. "You noticed that?"

"Hard not to. Didn't you?"

"I had to purchase new bras last month. I did not think it was so obvious."

"Well, I spend a lot of time looking at you so…"

 _Of course, you did_. "The estrogen therapy is continuing but requires some more time to succeed."

 _Uh, oh. I guess not tonight then_ , Patrick thought. "So then…"

"Without proper Progesterone and complex hormonal patterns, the rest of the reproductive system is in minimal activity until target levels are reached, it may take some time to reach optimum levels for the next stage of therapy."

"and…."

Rei looked at him, unemotional in her response. "The sexual response cycle within this body is still not properly functioning. In addition, Foch-Sensei has precluded me from interring any foreign DNA until we've reach further stages into the therapy, as it might offset the precise hormonal balances."

"That's a very complex way of saying 'no'."

She sat up next to him, placing her hand on his chest. "I wish it were not so."

"No, you're honest as you always are," Patrick said as he sat up.

"We did discuss this earlier," she answered with just a twinge of regret in her voice. "I'm not the same as normal humans."

"I know, but I was just wondering, you know…"

"Tonight, seemed different, didn't it?" she asked him.

Patrick plopped back down on the bed as Rei looked at him, her hand still on his chest. "Yes, tonight was special. Seeing you on that stage, dancing like you did. I just wanted to be there with you, that's all."

"I wish you'd had been there with me," Rei told him. "You had a chance to learn, when we were in Japan."

"Yeah and ballet is so, I don't know…. _feminine_?"

"Someone has to be the prince."

Patrick burst out in laughter. "Did you mean that to be funny?"

"Yes, I did," said Rei, smiling a little. "I'm trying to learn jokes but it's very difficult."

"You do just fine," Patrick replied, "I guess you're really learning when you can crack jokes like that." Rei nodded and then snuggled back with Patrick on the bed.

They lay together for a long while in the night, with their bodies up against one another, gently caressing each other. The two of them rolled over to face each other, and Patrick felt his hands caress Rei's body, moving from her arms to her waist and then to her thighs. Rei put her own arms around his neck, and then kissed him deep and slow.

After they broke off for air, Patrick looked into her eyes. There was a mixture of emotions there, he could tell: hope, longing, but also that pervasive sadness that Rei always seemed to carry with her. He knew many times she still considered herself a prisoner within her synthetic body, a body that gave her many unique benefits but also severe drawbacks. He wanted to be her white knight, still ever after all these months of knowing her, but there were just some battles he couldn't fight for her. In fact, he admitted, many times he felt helpless when it came to her, like he was always doing something wrong but not knowing what it was.

But she still loved him, despite the gaps still between them that were both physical and spiritual. Both wanted a way to build a bridge to the other, and for both it was proving more challenging as time went on.

"I love you," Patrick said to her.

"And I love you, Forri-kun," Rei replied. Then the two of them went back to kissing and holding each other in the dark.

* * *

 _And here we are in the first installment for the latest Evangelion Blue Rose fanfic story, "Never Jet Alone." If you've read the prologue or teaser that I posted a week ago, you have part of the set up, with the long-abandoned JetAlone robot suddenly springing to life. That part of the story is three months in the future, how we get to that point is what we'll be looking at in the next few chapters._

 _Before going too far I really want to thank all of you regular readers who have hung with me all of this time. I realize that The Blue Rose isn't the regular sort of fanfic you commonly see, for reasons that I've already reviewed earlier, but I'm thankful for the small but enthusiastic group that follows these stories and hopeful that I can still turn out work that you'll all enjoy and find challenging._

 _Never Jet Alone probably got its start all the way back from "Blue Rose #3, The Awakening", when I started to sketch out what would happen to the EVA pilots, Patrick and Rei included, after the war ended. After working on some possible plotlines I was able to develop a sort of "after-story" outline that gave each of the remaining EVA characters a developed ending to their plotlines. One of these storylines later gave birth to "Play to Remember," the Shinji x Asuka side story set in Shinji's new music school in Germany that proved quite popular. Basically Never Jet Alone is set in the nearly the same timeline, but instead follows Rei and the Forrestal twins and their experiences in America while going to school._

 _But this story isn't going to be just a drama about oversexed college kids. I very much wanted an action component to go along with the drama that I've been wanting to write for some time, and with this story I think we will have a very good mix. It will be a bit drama-heavy for the first few chapters so a bit of patience on the part of the reader is advised, but once the fuse is lit things will move quite fast in the second and third acts._

 _As before, I will try my best to keep output at 1-2 chapters a month, with a projected twenty chapters planned for this story. If you don't see your favorite EVA character appear just yet, don't worry as I have plans to show as many as I can as we progress further._

 _Also, as always your feedback is greatly appreciated. I am posting these chapters concurrently at both Facebook and , so please review if you get the chance at either site. -spd_


	3. The New Institute

It was not until nearly seven the following morning when Patrick found his way back to his apartment. Walking slowly through the residential district of the university, he spotted a familiar face some hundred yards away and moved towards him.

Dylan McCabe was an American-born Marine who had once served under Patrick's former commander and still foster-father Admiral Vinson, and when Patrick was enrolled along with Erin at The New Institute McCabe, being one of the admirals more trusted operatives, was assigned to the security detail for the pilots. Given as Dylan and Patrick both were raised in rural environments, Dylan came from Wyoming while Patrick grew up in the California Sierra Nevadas, they had similar backgrounds and therefore hit it off immediately. Patrick considered Dylan a friend as well as a guardian, and Dylan was happy to further the relationship with one of his charges.

"Good morning!" Patrick called out to the security man, dressed in a blue and black track suit. While Patrick was nearly six foot by now, Dylan was six foot four and very full of muscle and managed to make Patrick look short compared to him. "Top o'the morning to you, kid!"

The two linked up for the walk back to Patrick's apartment. "How long have you been on shift?" Patrick asked. The security bodyguards in the pilots' protection detail usually did twelve-hour shifts.

"I took over around 0500," Dylan replied. "Just outside of ANGEL's NEST." The guard used the code name for Rei's apartment.

"Uh, yeah," Patrick confirmed with a little embarrassment. "Did anyone confirm with Erin I was there?"

"I don't know. She was posted back to your guys' pad around 2400 along with your guest – and no one else I might add."

"Good," Patrick said under his breath.

"What, you don't like your sister's new boyfriend?"

"Do you?"

"Well, it's not really for us to say," Dylan answered. "We're your security detail, but we can only protect your body, we can't protect your heart I'm afraid."

"I don't know, he just gives me a bad feeling."

"In what way?"

"He seems fake to me."

"Lots of boys try to put on airs to impress a girl they like," Dylan told Patrick. "So, he might come off as a bit pretentious. But if anything's really dangerous about Senor Diego we'll find out about it."

"Alright," and Patrick resigned himself to leaving the matter unsettled for the moment.

It took only a few more minutes to reach Patrick's apartment, a two-bedroom suite at the top floor of student housing. It had been his home since September when he and Erin had moved in before the beginning of the school term. The apartments, like most of the New Institute, had been remodeled from their prior function as personnel barracks for NERV's First Branch, but still retained a semi-military look about them in their tan and grey color scheme and squared designs. It was already seeming drab to him, Patrick noted mentally.

Dylan followed Patrick in the elevator but remained in the hallway as the boy made his way to his front door. He would be doing his job, Patrick knew, shadowing him throughout the day as he always did, protecting against the curious and the malicious, although in the years since the wars ended Patrick and Erin had been lucky to not ever encounter the latter and he hoped it would stay that way. Fumbling for his key the door opened while he had his hands in his pockets. Erin was standing in front of him.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in!" she said with a smirk. Erin was already dressed for the day, wearing a blue jean jacket over a black top along with a denim miniskirt. "Morning, bro."

"'Morning," he said and stepped inside, removing his shoes. Despite that they now lived in the USA again Patrick and Erin kept the Japanese practice of not wearing shoes inside of the house.

Their apartment had a small living room and dining area, bordered by a kitchen on one side, and the hallway leading to the bedrooms on the other. It was spacious as student housing went, and Patrick was always thankful they could afford the largest student suite available in the complex. Sitting at the dining room table and quietly sipping her tea from a plastic teacup was Mari, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and wearing a top that said "Killer Kitty" with a cartoon cat clutching a six-shooter printed on the front.

"Good morning, Pats," she greeted him cheerfully. "Sleep well last night?"

"I guess so," he replied as he made his way to the refrigerator, pulling out a Japanese iced coffee. Erin sat down at the table next to Mari, as Patrick got his drink and sat down across from them. Parched and still sleepy, Patrick rapidly gulped down the coffee as the two girls looked on silently, and it wasn't until he finished the can when he noticed both of their expectant stares.

"What?" he said with an annoyed voice.

Both Erin and Mari looked at him with their chins resting on their right hand. "So?" Erin asked him.

"So…"

"So," Mari joined her, "How did things go last night?"

"Well, the usual. I mean, I just went to Rei's place and then crashed there for the night, then woke up and now I'm here."

"So, then nothing happened between you two then?" Mari pried.

Patrick recoiled at the suspicion of the two girls. _Damn they are so nosy._ "Well, not really, I mean…"

"He seems flustered," Erin said to Mari.

"He certainly does, and I do think I detect a bit of nervousness in him."

"Why the hell do I gotta tell the two of you what happens with her anyway?" protested Patrick.

"We're your sisters," Mari declared, "we get to find out everything you've been up to."

"Oh, and I suppose that works the other way around too!"

"Nope," Erin said. "Remember, chivalry and all that."

"Hey, turnabout is fair play," Patrick argued. "How about you and Don Diego last night?"

"I should have you know that Diego was quite the gentleman, and despite Lusty's joining us at the last minute he was quite tolerant of the company. I think you two got along well, yeah?" she said to Mari.

"Oh, he's a charmer that one," Mari declared. "I suppose everyone should have a Latin lover at least once in their life."

"So, did Valentino do a Don Juan on you then?" Patrick asked Erin.

"I safely slid into second base, and then the inning was over," his sister said with a smug face. "Besides I'm not that kind of girl, and he's knows and is okay with it. But what about you, dear brother? Your game went into extra innings. You didn't get tagged out, did you?"

Resigned to give up his secret, Patrick slumped down on the table surface as the two girls eyed him anxiously. "All right, all right. I see you won't give this up so easily. Third Base."

"Oooohh! Really?" Erin exclaimed.

"Just a little. Don't expect details."

"I was wondering how long it would take you two," said Mari.

"Hey, you know how it is with her. Even this is sort of pushing it. But last night was kind of…"

"Yeah, we get it," Erin concluded. "Don't forget I was on that stage too. I know how she looked. At least the Swan got her prince in the end." She got up from the table and found her bookbag on the couch behind them. "Anyway, I've got class and need to get out of here. Lusty, are you staying with us tonight too?"'

"Afraid not, Tigress," Mari replied. "But I'll be around for the day before I head back. I'm sure Pats wants to catch up and I'd like to see Angel too while I'm here."

"Well then toodles, I'll catch you again before you get out of here" she said, giving Mari a hug and then passing Patrick towards the door. "Hey, Bro?"

"Yeah,"

"Don't forget to go to class today. I mean that."

"I won't, I won't, don't worry so much." Patrick said in an annoyed voice.

"It's not my grades that are on the line," she quipped back. "Bye."

"Bye," both Patrick and Mari said to Erin as she went out the door and shut it behind her. Patrick waited a full minute to be sure Erin was clear of the area before speaking to Mari.

"You wanna go somewhere?" he asked her.

Mari cocked her head in curiosity. "What did you have in mind?"

* * *

After a short motorcycle trip, the two of them ended up at a large arcade near campus named "Floston's Paradise." As they walked inside Mari looked around at the very spacious interior, colorfully decorated like something between a Polynesian Island setting and an alien invasion.

"Your hiding place," Mari quipped at Patrick.

"This used to be the tactical training center for the armed security staff at NERV First Branch," Patrick explained. "When NERV sold off the facility some guys picked it up and redecorated it but kept a lot of the combat simulations going." He pointed towards a large LED scoreboard mounted high on one wall. Mari noticed at the very top of the scoreboard were the initials "PHF," and she knew immediately that they stood for Patrick Henry Forrestal.

"I see you're on top."

"Yeah," Patrick confirmed with some embarrassment. "They opened this place when school started, and I put myself at the top of the leaderboard. I've never been lower than 2nd ever since."

Floston's Paradise was now a collection of various types of video games plus the tactical training areas in the rear of the building, which were the more challenging of the simulations presented by the shop. A beginner's track worked more like traditional "laser-tag" games where players armed with low-powered lasers and sensor vests would shoot at each over through a maze. But the master's level of simulations was taken straight from small arms combat simulators, featuring actual pistols and rifles armed with paint-ball ammo, and robotic and holographic opponents moving in a randomized pattern through a complex environment of rooms, hiding places, and obstacles. There were also robotic gunner stations that could fire back at players who were challenging the course, making it a very difficult run for the inexperienced.

Patrick went to the front desk where the clerk, a heavy-set man in his forties with long hair, greeted him with a friendly smile. "Hi, Boss!" he said.

"Hey, Markie. Can you set up my guest here for the DangerMax Course?"

"Sure thing, boss." Markie then turned to Mari and asked "Miss, have you ever done a combat simulator before?"

Mari looked at him with a grin. "You could say that, I think."

"What you like? We got a snub pistol, you should be able to handle that I think."

"How 'bout a MP-5K?" Mari quickly replied.

"Ohhh, she's got taste, she does!" the clerk said and went to the back. "Hey, Boss, your usual?"

"Yeah, three clips please."

The clerk retrieved the weapons from a storage closet behind him and then returned to the front desk. He handed Patrick a SIG-Sauer 9mm automatic pistol and three clips loaded with paintball ammo and gave Mari the black short-barreled submachine gun along with her own ammo. He then gave both of them vests and helmets for the course. The challenge course wasn't "laser tag" and so the protective gear was used to absorb the impact of hits by other shooters.

After checking in the two of them went to the course run, donning their armor and methodically checking their weapons. Patrick had run through the shooting course enough times to where it was truly second-nature to him, and with his routine before every combat run he made sure his pistol clips were loaded correctly (and not somehow loaded with live ammo by mistake), and that the safety on the pistol was on. He also noticed that Mari did much the same, and at an equally confident and quick manner. Patrick thought that whatever Mari filled her time with after leaving Japan last summer had certainly improved her firearms skills.

With armor, clear eye shields, and hearing plugs all donned, the two of them stood at the ready at the starting line of the combat course. Each would run on their own track, and the objective was to be first in points, which relied on being both fast and accurate with the bias on accurate shooting. Unlike lower-tech combat courses, here the targets occasionally shot back with paint bullets of their own.

The pair watched the starting clock and waited for the buzzer. _Counting down to five…four…three…two...one…GO!_

Patrick sprinted forward, both hands on his pistol grip and immediately went to a wall on his right seeking cover. He rolled against the wall and saw two black silhouette targets and got shots on one of them before rolling back as the second target returned fire through a hidden gun, its paint round striking the wall he hid behind. Patrick quickly rolled again, and this time moved out in the open, putting a single round in the center of the target and sprinting forward.

The second zone featured several obstacles including low barriers that had to be hurdled, and provided only partial cover, which could either force the shooter to go low and take cover or try and run and jump it and shoot while on the move, a tricky proposition. Patrick knew how to do it both ways, but as he pushed forward he saw to his right that Mari had already figured out the course and flung herself high in the air, bringing down her MP5 and giving two more targets quick bursts on her way down.

 _Damn, she's already ahead of me!_ Patrick jumped on one berm and pushed himself into the air, putting two bullets into one target, and another two on another before hitting the ground. He rolled over and then jumped up again, now sprinting towards the third area.

With tall cylindrical barriers spread throughout the third zone resembled a giant forest of blue tubes. Here some of the targets at the end were stationary, but another two were on tracks that put them behind random "trees," and like the others these targets also shot back. Patrick weaved his way through the barriers getting off one shot and then another at the forest targets, and then putting two rounds in a third target at the end. He couldn't spot Mari to his right and figured that she had already bounded to the fourth zone.

The next zone featured an obstacle hazard, with a three-foot wide chasm filled with a shallow amount of water. On the other side were several silhouette targets, most of which were moving and now in addition there were different silhouettes that were not targets: these were simulated civilians that were mixed in among the enemies. As Patrick ran into the zone he heard a splash and saw that Mari had jumped into the stream, to use the cover its banks afforded. _Smart move_ , he noted to himself, as nearly all beginners in the zone try to jump the stream instead, instantly exposing themselves to enemy fire.

Patrick slid into the riverbank and pressed himself against the far side, keeping his body out of sight as he ejected one clip and slid in another. He then popped upward and put four hits on four successive targets, and then went rapidly back down as the remaining targets pelted the ground with paint bullets. Mari was doing much the same, using short, controlled bursts from her MP5 to strike down targets. Patrick did the pop-up attack again, knocking down another two. He didn't wait to check for any remaining targets as Mari had already jumped out of the river bank and sprinted forward a second ahead of him, but instead leaped out and ran to the final zone.

The last zone was naturally the most challenging, as it consisted of about a dozen moving silhouette targets that were intermingled with civilian non-targets. There was also painfully little cover for the shooters running the course, consisting only of a single bench and a post. In this case with only two things to hide behind, both shooters had to decide quickly which cover was theirs before targets opened fire. If they ran for the same piece of cover, there wasn't enough space for both and one shooter, or perhaps even both, would be exposed to fire.

Figuring that he knew the course better, Patrick dove for the ground first while Mari jumped for the post as cover. Patrick then rapidly rolled to the bench and put his back to it. He could hear the impacts of several paint bullets against it as he looked to his right and saw Mari. She winked at him, MP5 at the ready.

 _Ah, I miss the old days_. Patrick grinned back at her and together they swung outside and in the open, firing their weapons at the targets. Mari struck several in quick succession, careful to control her submachine gun's bursts to avoid innocents, while Patrick made several hits all in dead center or in the forehead.

Just as Mari thought everything in the course was cleared, one of the civilian targets flipped over, revealing it was a hostile one in disguise complete with paint-bullet gun. She brought up her SMG to bear but the target put two rounds dead center on her chest. Patrick promptly took the target down. A buzzer sounded, and a voice called out "TIME." The course was finished.

"Bloody hell!" Mari protested. "That was bollocks there at the end!"

Patrick was grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah, that little surprise at the end gets everyone. Messed me up the first few times on the course."

"Well, at least this way I can still live and learn. How'd I do?"

Patrick looked up on the scoreboard and saw both his and Mari's scores. Patrick had 834 points while Mari had 829, a very close finish.

"Off by 5 from me," said Patrick. "A perfect run is 1,000."

"Not bad for a first timer."

"Not bad at all, Lusty. You've been practicing again."

She cocked her head in feint modesty. "Does it show?" Patrick grinned at her.

"Let's dry off and get some lunch and you can tell me all about it."

There was a diner next to the shooting range and the two pilots sat at a booth in an out of the way corner. Patrick noticed that Mari insisted on getting a seat that faced the front door of the restaurant and knew that was a habit of security. He himself sat with a view of the kitchen door, also out of the same exact habit. It had also confirmed his suspicions about her sudden visit.

"I bet you love this place," Mari told Patrick. "The menu's practically carnivorous."

"Meat's the one thing I have to give up for love," he replied. "But I manage to sneak it in from time to time." A waitress came with two double cheeseburgers, plus French fries and colas for both kids, and they promptly dove in with their appetites.

"So, "Mari told Patrick in between bites, "considering your skill at that course I'm guessing you probably spend quite a bit of time there."

"Not every day," the boy confessed as he dug into his cheeseburger, "but I probably go there more than school itself."

"Not really fond of school?" Mari said as she munched into a fry.

"Meh, school's…school's okay. I guess." There was a long pause between the two of them as Mari stopped eating and looked straight at Patrick, while he took another bite. Then he put the mostly consumed burger down.

"Okay, okay. School sucks balls."

"Then why are you here?"

"One: it's free. I mean, the New Institute is different from a regular college, there's no tuition. There's no applications, you get nominated to be here, and Erin and I were both nominated by the Admiral."

"And Rei."

"Yes, although she's sort of a special case. But anyway, that's one. The other is that Erin and Rei are here and not somewhere else. So here is where I am too."

"But you don't like it. Is it too difficult?"

Patrick sighed and worked up the best way to explain things to Mari, not sure that he understood it himself. "I'm not sure what it is. I mean, when we were in school back in Japan, I did alright even despite the language barrier. Both Erin and I took the high school equivalency test anyway and nailed it, so I wasn't really worried about my grades. But I get here and it's totally different."

"You mean that it's actually hard?" Mari said with a smirk.

"Oh, that's it," he said with a snarky tone. "Look, I can handle the subject matter, but there's just something…I don't know, missing here for me."

"What's your major?"

"Applied sciences."

Mari was surprised. "Applied sciences? Really? Not something like, say history. I would think that's more in your corner."

"Except that the New Institute has a separate campus for the humanities that's far away from here. This campus is concentrated on the sciences and given that Rei's major is Genetics, and Erin is in Computer and Info Sciences, this is where I gotta be. Also, I figure, mom and dad were both scientists and so it's a family thing."

"You don't sound convinced," Mari quipped.

"Fine," he spat in frustration. "You got me. It sucks here, I don't want to do work. I don't want to do classes. I just want to be here and that's it. I don't even care if I pass."

"But Erin surely does, she was concerned about it enough to mention it over dinner last night."

"Yeah, well I know she's frustrated. God knows she's really helped me along."

"But shouldn't you at least be straightforward about it with them? I mean if you're not happy here…."

"Hey," Patrick defended. "I'm _happy_ here. I've got Rei here. I've got Erin here, and we're back in the good ol' US of A. Nothing could be better. I just need to find my groove, that's all."

They went back to eating, and Mari started perusing the desert menu on the table, while it was Patrick's turn to give her that stare that meant "there's something you're not telling me." The two of them, despite the distances of time and location, were still partners in a bond forged by war and trial.

Mari knew the glance and looked back at him, straightening her red-rimmed glasses. "You're wondering why I'm really here, aren't you?"

"I know it wasn't just to see Rei dance last night."

"Not that it wasn't worth the trip. She's beautiful! I can't imagine how jealous you must have been just watching her do all that on stage with some other boy."

"It's okay," Patrick said with a smile. "I got my own _Pas de deux_ later that night."

"But don't you want to live up to what you're really capable of? I sure you don't want your Angel disappointed in you."

"Why would she be?"

"Don't take her for granted, Patrick."

"I don't!"

"But If I know her like I do," Mari continued, "I know that she won't always state what's on her mind. If she's concerned about you she might still hold back until it's too late. You know that too."

"I think we get along well enough to where we pretty much accept each other the way we are. Besides, honestly, she's so busy not only with studies and ballet and working then all that time she spends with Dr. Foch at the lab, I doubt she has a lot of time to think much."

"Hmmm," Mari said, finishing up her fries. "Let's change the subject. What if I gave you a new, opportunity shall we say?"

Patrick knew where this was leading, as the clues had been dropped all this morning. "No."

"You haven't even heard what I've had to say!"

"It's about piloting, isn't it?"

"No, it's not."

"But it is about something _dangerous_."

Mari smiled. "Yes, it is."

"Then no."

"Do you even know what I'm going to say?"

Patrick leaned forward on the table. "First, I saw you with that MP-5 this morning and you were taking down targets like they were strawberry jello. That's better than I've ever seen you before and that sort of training doesn't come cheap or easy. Secondly, a year and a half ago you could barely walk and now you're jumping through obstacle courses fast as a bandit, which means you've had some work done on you and anyone willing to give you that kind of 'enhancement' usually has an objective in mind. Finally, you're now traveling a lot more but you're coy about what it is you're up to, which means it's secret and its secret for a reason. And that's a reason that I want to get the hell away from."

"Are you really happy here?"

"Yeah, yes of course."

"How many pounds have you gained in three months?"

The boy was becoming increasingly flustered. "It's not about the weight! Damn, I'm in good shape still, you know that, but I just…just don't want to deal with this shit any longer. I finally got it good," He told her with as much cheer as he could muster up. "I'm stable and I've got something like a future in a respectable field that doesn't involve killing things or people or getting my face melted off!" At the end of the sentence Patrick was practically shouting, enough that heads turned among other customers in the diner. He then sheepishly muttered "Sorry," and continued with Mari in hushed tones, huddling across the table.

"Hey, I'm not dumb. It's not that I wouldn't normally at least consider doing what you're doing but…"  
"But…"

Patrick paused and then spoke quietly. "There's one more thing to this. I have family, with all of you. Meaning all of us pilots and Misato and the Vinsons and everyone else. But Erin…"  
"What about her?"

"She's still fearful something's going to happen to me and then she's all alone," Patrick told Mari. "Let's say this all worked out, and then I get to be Secret Agent Double-O Four or something. That leaves Erin, and Rei worried sick about me that I'm not coming home one day. We've already been through so much of that, and I don't want to do that to them. I want to be there for them, all the time. No more long-distance relationships. No more adventures. Just stable. Normal. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Do you know what I think?"

"What?"

"You're bored out of your mind because you're hooked. Just like I am."

"Hooked on what? LCL?"

"Danger," Mari clarified. "You can't live without it. That's why you go shooting every other day. That's why you push the envelope with whatever you can in your wreckage of an academic career. That's why you'd rather get caught goofing off then being a good boy and sitting in the front of the class and taking pages of notes and reading and reading and reading because you can't stand it. You need to get dirty."

"And playing spy is the way to do that."

"It's not 'playing spy.' The Director has a different role for you in mind."

"Like what?"

"Counter-intelligence."

"Against _who_?" asked Patrick. "SEELE's gone, they're all buried under that volcano."

"That doesn't mean there won't be others, and that's what were out to prevent."

"And so, you want me to do what, exactly?"

Mari leaned toward Patrick over the table, to where she was almost touching his nose. "Do what you do very best…solve puzzles."

Patrick tried to say something in return but found that he couldn't: Mari had gotten through his AT Field, and reached his core in an unexpected way.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, "but still no. I'm not just here for myself anymore, and I don't want them to have to be afraid every day of their lives."

"Pats," said Mari, "they can't be themselves unless you're able to be yourself too, and this person you're becoming is not you, not the real you."

Patrick just shrugged his shoulders, defeated but not seeing how he could move on. "I just can't do it."

* * *

The New Institute Cambridge branch was a sprawling campus covering several square miles of buildings, composed of classrooms, laboratories for research, and support facilities for them. Built from the former campus of NERV First Branch (which itself was constructed on top of what was once known as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or M.I.T.) the New Institute was, as its name suggested, a new attempt at reinventing higher education with a novel methodology in both how it obtained students and how it educated them.

To begin with, the New Institute didn't accept applications. There was a board of governors that hired a much larger advisory board that was made up of one thousand members from all over the world and from all types of fields, including the sciences, government, literature and the media. Each member was permitted to sponsor at least one incoming student per year, a student that they would nominate. Student Candidates then had to take a single, two-hour long test to ascertain basic abilities in math, English (the common language of instruction at the New Institute), logic, and ethics. Students who passed were accepted, and the Institute through very generous financial backing from the Alliance of Free Nations paid all room, board, and tuition fees for the one thousand students accepted into each class year.

The methodology of the education program at The New Institute was also radically different. Incoming students were tasked with planning for a four-year program by requesting all their courses in advance and filling out a questionnaire filled with random, unusual questions. Both were fed into a computer (a copy of NERV's MAGI system that was operating at First Branch and was still being used by the New Institute) which then provided the students with a schedule of classes each semester. Some classes were not on the student's request list, but instead covered some subject that the Institute's computer thought the student needed additional study in, or perhaps had some yet unfound skill or proficiency. So, while some students had a clear path on their academic journey, others may have been provided more challenges to study in areas that they were either weak in or needed exposure to. In Patrick's case, most of his assigned first semester coursework was very heavy on the physical sciences and considering most of his initial education was done in the California Mountains and nowhere near a high school science lab, it had proved to be a very significant challenge indeed.

Additionally, each student at The New Institute was required to do two things: take a class in some type of art and perform some sort of work for the institute. The work requirement was usually something involving either student services or facilities maintenance, and that usually meant cleaning up the campus in some way. In that regard The New Institute was not unlike Japanese schools where the students were tasked with cleaning up the classroom themselves. Most of the part-time positions in the university campus from food service to bookstore cashiers to library clerks were held by students.

The art requirement was something very different. The Institute's chancellor Dr. Gallatner (a former Yale scientist and one-time anti-UN activist) had stated that every student should have some experience in the classical arts no matter their actual major. So, every student was required to enroll into one art program, which included anything from painting, handcrafting, music and drama, to performing arts like ballet. The New Institute didn't have a sports program set up as of the first year, so artistic expression served as something of an outlet for stress for most of the students, and it wasn't before long when some students started organizing events to display their learned talents. Thus Rei, who took two years of intensive ballet in Japan, was part of the campus dance company's production.

Patrick, however, found himself out of scope in the arts as the closest he'd ever gotten to this was carving small figures out of wood up in his mountain cabin home. With no sports programs and with a load of remedial science instruction, nothing the New Institute currently had given him for classes was anything he was remotely interested in. As art was a requirement, Patrick took a drawing class and found that he hated it after a week of struggling, but he did little to change his schedule and many times simply didn't show up to class.

* * *

At the center of The New Institute's campus was a large building that served as a student support center, and that included bookstores and food outlets. It had been remodeled from the earlier cafeteria at NERV First Branch and was now quite presentable, with small cafes and boutique shops focused on student's shopping needs.

Rei Ayanami's daily schedule typically started at the school's swimming pool, and while there were no aquatic classes the physical training facilities on the campus were still well-kept and well-attended. On any given weekday she would swim early in the morning when the pool was nearly empty of students. After having a very light breakfast that she brought with her, consisting of tea and natto toast, Rei would change and go to her first round of classes. On Mondays she would attend Calculus and then Molecular Chemistry, and then usually meet with Patrick and/or Erin for lunch at one of the student cafes in the center court.

Before the day began Patrick had already told her that he'd be spending the morning with Mari and that he'd catch lunch with her as well. Rei knew lunch with Mari would likely involve meat, so she suggested they get lunch on their own, and that they'd touch base later that day. It was fine for her if Patrick wanted to take his time to see her again, the previous night had been something of an intensive experience between them and Rei felt that she needed time to process this in her mind.

As Erin Forrestal had an exam to study for that afternoon she proved unavailable for lunch, so Rei instead went alone to the campus's coffee and tea house.

Since her piloting days Rei's outward appearance had changed considerably: she now grew her hair long, flowing down to below her shoulders when she didn't put it up. She also normally wore eyeglasses most of the time and took care to dress herself well compared to her old days of simply wearing her school uniform and cheap sneakers every day and everywhere. Because it had become trendy in the years after Third Impact to color hair and eyes in many ways, Rei's Azure blue hair color and deep red eye color were attention getting but not highly unusual and in America most students went out of their way to look "different." As a result, she didn't look like her old self much and wasn't well recognized in public, although she was still very petite and slim in figure, and most of all still maintained a very mysterious quality about herself.

From the counter Rei ordered green tea and a bowl of vegetable soup, and then sat herself down with a book and read after quickly finishing her soup. She had about a half-hour to pass before her work study and so spent the time quietly reading the next semester's textbook for Genetics (as she had already finished this semester's) while sipping her tea. She was very presentable that day, wearing a white long-sleeved blouse and a matching calf-length skirt, with matching white hose and pumps.

"E…E…Excuse me?" Rei lifted her head and saw a male student standing next to the table. He was of short height and had brown hair, wore glasses over grey-colored eyes and on first appearance seemed to be either of European or Asian heritage, or perhaps a bit of both.

"Are you _Reiko_?" he asked Rei. To keep her actual identity as the First Child hidden, Rei used the alias "Reiko Kaji" as a student. She wasn't the only one of the EVA pilots to follow this practice either.

"Yes?"

"Uh, Hi! I'm David, David Zumwalt!" Rei drew a blank stare as she couldn't remember the boy initially.

"From Calculus class?"

With that prompt Rei now remembered the face, one of the students who frequented the front row of the mathematics class. Most students avoided the front row, as it made being asked a question by the teaching professor that much riskier. But Zumwalt wasn't afraid of that, instead he seemed afraid of something very different.

"Oh, yes!"

"May I sit here?" Rei didn't say anything but just nodded slightly and Zumwalt promptly sat down, shoving his book bag on the seat next to him

"I'm sorry to interrupt you but I saw you there and wanted to ask if you, if um…" The boy struggled to get out what he wanted to say as Rei stared at him unemotionally.

 _Why is he so nervous? This isn't about math class, is it?_

"…did you have a partner for the math lab project?"

Rei looked at him further, blinking slightly as she recalled what was meant. "I've already finished the project," she told him.

"Really?!" Zumwalt said, surprised. "But that's not due until end of term?"

"I have an overloaded schedule, so I try to work in advance as much as possible," Rei told him flatly. This was a true statement, as Rei needed as much time in the Artificial Evolution Laboratory as she could get and doing schoolwork in advance of the deadlines was one way to use time more efficiently.

"Oh, I see," the boy chuckled. "I…I was just going to ask if I could be your partner, that's all."

 _And now I know why you're here_ , Rei thought to herself.

"Anyway, um, I see you around campus but I just never, you know, met you before. That's all." Rei didn't reply, but instead took a sip of her tea and then returned to gazing at the boy across from her.

"Was that you last night?" David Zumwalt continued. "You know, at _Swan Lake_?"

"Yes," Rei replied.

"Wow. You're good. I mean you're really good! Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"I studied in Japan for two years before I came here."

"Oh, you're from Japan. Well, of course you are, you've got a Japanese name and all," Zumwalt said nervously. "That's not always true but anyway…Why did you come here?"

"I'm involved in research."

"You're a researcher then?"

"No. I am a test subject."

"A test subject? You mean, like you're being _experimented_ on?"

"Yes."

 _That was unexpected_ , the boy thought. "What, for like a medical trial?"

"It is a scientific matter but I cannot comment on it further," she said to him.

"I see. Well, that's kind of different. I mean, all of us are on scholarship and all and you're here for something else. Well, um…" The boy started stammering again as Rei continued to observe him silently from across the table.

"Um, anyway do you like it here?" he asked Rei.

"Yes. Very much."

"I do too. I'm from Wisconsin originally. Not many scientists from there, really, but I got lucky and got picked for this place. It's kind of nice here during the fall, when the leaves turned color and all. Not that we get much chance to do things apart from studying. Um, what book is that?" Zumwalt pointed at Rei's textbook.

"It's _Biostatistical_ _Genetics_ _and_ _Genetic_ _Epidemiology, Volume 2,"_ she told him. "It's next semester's textbook."

" _Next_ semester?! You're already reading next semester's work? Wow, you really are working in advance."

"I had read this semester's textbook while in high school, so I knew the material already."

"Next year maybe you'll be teaching the class," David quipped.

"Perhaps," Rei said without a shred of irony.

At this point in the conversation David Zumwalt had to admit to himself that he was vastly outgunned, as not only was "Reiko" quite pretty in his opinion, but also extremely intelligent as well. He had never quite encountered someone wrapped up in such a package. Yet she seemed alone, and strangely unemotional. _Maybe there was a chance after all? Time to roll the dice?_

"Are you going to the Fall Dance?" he blurted out suddenly.

"Probably," Rei replied.

"Do you need a date?"

"No."

"Oh, you're going alone then."

"No," Rei clarified. "My boyfriend would be taking me." Rei then observed that David Zumwalt's face became about two shades paler than just a moment earlier.

"Oh, um, okay. I'm sorry, I didn't know. I guess I figured you didn't have one because I never see you with someone while you're around campus."

"He's a student," Rei told him. "But unfortunately, he doesn't go to classes very much."

"Well, his loss," Zumwalt replied. "Anyway, you seem like you're really smart. You're welcome to sit with us on the front row in Calculus anytime, you'd probably hold your own there." Rei didn't reply but simply slightly nodded her head in affirmation.

"It's good that we can be friends at least, don't you think so? Reiko?"

"Yes, it is, David Zumwalt."

"Actually," he smiled, the first time he seemed relaxed to Rei within the entire conversation, "just call me Zummy. All my friends call me that."

Rei gave him just the slightest smile. "Okay, Zummy-kun."

* * *

Patrick spent more time with Mari as they walked across campus and he gave her a short tour of the facilities, and then the two linked up with Erin that afternoon after her test. By this time, it was late afternoon, the sun was going down and the weather became just a bit breezier.

"So, how did your test go," Mari asked Erin as she put together her backpack just outside the classroom door.

"It felt okay. It's NeoAIDA programming so it's a new language for me, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Hey, Lusty, when do you have to head back to the UK?"

"Right after dinner, I'm afraid. I was only able to squeeze this trip in because of a pause in work, so I've got to jump back on a plane and rush to London-2 tonight."

"Too bad," Patrick said. "Would have loved to have you the whole week."

"I wouldn't want to cut into your studies, Pats," Mari told him. "And depending how things go back home I might enroll later, if I can find a sponsor. That is if you're still here next term."

Patrick looked puzzled. "Um, why wouldn't I still be here?"

"Never mind that. By the way, where is your Angel girl? Is she getting out of class also?"

"Not class," Patrick told Mari. "She has work this afternoon."

"Can we still go see her? I haven't had the chance since last night."

"Sure, she's only a bit of a walk away."

The group of the three of them walked towards the Staff Services building which was just a few hundred meters from the center of the campus. This was a medium sized building that comprised of various offices supporting faculty and administrators at the New Institute and was where Rei worked three days a week as part of her work-study.

They entered the building and went into a courtyard that was in the center of the five-story complex, there was a glass ceiling atop a spacious atrium where adult staff milled about on breaks or as they walked in between offices. Once they were inside the building however the group could hear the faint sound of the singing of children.

"What is that?" Mari asked, "That song is vaguely familiar."

"You'll see," Patrick said with a smile.

"It's about the cutest thing ever, I think," Erin added.

The trio approached one large window facing the courtyard and spotted the façade of a day care center run by the Institute for pre-school children. The window allowed a good view inside of the center and inside one could see a large classroom with a chalkboard and video screens presenting education programs running for very young learners, as well as small seats and lots of toys and arts and craft materials along storage bins built into to the walls. About a dozen or so small children, between the ages of three and five, were seated in a circle on the floor.

Dressed with headbands of animal ears that the students had crafted themselves, the small children were being led in singing a song. At the head of the circle, sitting cross-legged like the students themselves, was Rei. She too wore a set of animal-ears made from paper crafts, only hers were much more neatly constructed than those of the children, and over her blouse and skirt she wore a yellow apron. Rei led the children in song, clapping her hands and singing along herself in a soft, sweetly high-pitched tone. The song was in Japanese and went like this:

 _Sho Sho Shojoji, Shojoji no niwa wa,  
tsu tsu tsuki-yo da, minna dete koi, koi, koi!  
Oira no tomodacha, pon poko pon no pon._

Mari gasped in recognition. "I know this one! It's the Racoon song!" Then she immediately spouted a broad smile and started clapping herself, singing along with Rei and the children.

 _Makeru na, makeru na, osho-san ni makeru na!  
Koi, koi, koi, koi, koi, koi!  
Minna dete koi, koi, koi!_

As Rei continued teaching the children the song she looked up to her right and saw Mari entering the child care center, happily clapping her hands and singing along with the others. An older woman who was the center's lead teacher and also dressed in a yellow apron looked on approvingly at the whole bunch, including the newcomer.

Still standing outside and watching from the window were Patrick and Rei, both of whom couldn't help but be happy at the entire episode. Rei looked out the window briefly and Patrick gave her a broad smile. Rei just looked back at him, smiled a little more, and then turned again to the group as Mari found herself a place among the children to continue the song.

 _Sho Sho Shojoji, Shojoji no hagi wa,  
tsu tsu tsuki-yo ni hanazakari.  
Oira wa ukarete, pon poko pon no pon._

Erin couldn't help but start laughing. "I can't believe she just did that!"

"Of course she did," said Patrick. "This is Lusty we're talking about. I guess some people never grow up."

At the end of the song all the students clapped in applause. The clock struck 5:00 and Rei gathered up the students plus Mari up off the classroom floor to prepare them to go home. Shortly thereafter a steady stream of parents lined up at the care center doors to collect their children. Patrick and Erin continued to wait outside to not crowd everything but watched as Rei presented each student to their parent along with any crafts that were made by them that day. One student, a young boy with brown hair, quickly hugged Rei tightly just before going to his mother. She reciprocated, holding him and closing her eyes just a bit as she did so. It was a moment Patrick knew he would himself savor.

 _She's really attached to the children. It just goes to show what she's really looking forward to in life._

Rei returned the boy to his mother, who promptly gathered him up in her arms and thanked Rei then left the care center. As the two of them walked out Patrick could overhear the boy talk to his mother.

"Mommy! You know Big Sister Reiko? She's an Angel!"

His mother giggled and smiled. "Of course she is."

"No, Mommy! I mean REALLY!"

"Oh, Yoshi, you're so funny!"

The two of them left along with the other parents until it was only the childcare center director, Rei and Mari left. Rei then removed her apron and took her bookbag and walked out along with Mari after bidding goodbye to her supervisor. They met Patrick and Erin just outside the doorway.

"Hi there," Patrick said to Rei. Rei didn't say anything but waved her hand.

"How was everything?"

"Good," she told him. "Johnson-san told us Lusty could come again any time she wanted."

"As a teacher or a _student_?" Erin quipped half-seriously.

"That was really delightful," Mari told them. "If your Angel here ever gets bored of science she'll be a natural running this place."

"Perhaps I could do both?" Rei said.

"Science and children don't always mix nicely," Erin told her.

"Don't we all know it," Patrick continued. "Shall we all go home?"

"Hey, Rei?" Erin asked. "Who was that boy I saw you with in the café today?" The comment caused Patrick's eyebrows to shoot wide up in surprise. _What boy?_

"That was Zummy-kun," Rei told her. "He's someone I met in math class."

Patrick turned to Rei and asked. "Should I be worried?"

Rei looked up at him. "Not yet," she told him. Rei then started the walk to their apartment with Patrick following and wondering what he had missed that day on campus.

* * *

The group had a very light dinner in the Forrestal place, as Erin cooked up a quick meal of teriyaki chicken on rice while Rei made her (now quite famous) Miso soup. They spent the next hour reminiscing about the Japan days, chatting and laughing about times spent the previous year when they attended school in Hakone. No one said anything about EVA, as it was a subject avoided in light conversation by all the pilots in moments such as this. Finally, Rei stood up to go, quickly cleaning up her tableware and then going for her things before Patrick stopped her at the door.

"Hey," he asked her softly, "You got time later tonight?"

"No," she said. "Dr Foch has a lengthy schedule tonight so I will be very late coming back."

"How about tomorrow?"

"I'm free in the evening, after class and dance. Dinner?" she told him without emotion.

"Great," he replied, sneaking in a kiss. "I'll see you then." Rei nodded and then turned to go outside. "Forri-kun?" she said to him, "Please don't forget your test tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I won't!" he told her. Rei then left to go without saying another word. As he watched her go Patrick felt bothered by what he felt was Rei's seemingly sudden distance from him. _What happened today_? He wondered.

* * *

A half-hour later Rei arrived at a non-descript laboratory within the New Institute's campus. On the outside the six-story building sign said only "FERMI 2600." It was already past seven, and Rei passed by other researchers or staff that were heading home for the night as she walked through the front door.

Briskly walking a path through the labyrinth of hallways, Rei arrived at what appeared to be an unmarked door painted red. While the doorknob had no visible lock, it still had one and Rei pulled out a small key fob from her purse and presented it to the door. A slight click was heard and the door was unlocked, and Rei turned the handle and opened it.

A narrow, dimly-lit passageway led to a bank of two elevators, and Rei again used the same key fob to open the doors of one of them. She then promptly stepped inside. There was just an UP and DOWN button, and Rei pushed DOWN once.

The ride took about a minute down the elevator car, itself simply four fabric-covered walls and a steel floor and ceiling. There was a very faint ambient music in the background that played soft jazz, but Rei took no note of it as she was already used to the entire pathway.

Reaching the bottom, the car doors open and Rei quickly walked out, making a straight path down a lighted hallway with no accommodating doors except for two glass doors at the end. The corridor was deathly quiet, with only the clicks of Rei's heels audible as she walked towards the doors. Only then was there a sign indicating the subterranean area's true purpose: "ARTIFICIAL EVOLUTION LABORATORY." This time Rei didn't need a key fob, the portals' sensor already knew her from a biometric camera mounted at the top and opened the twin doors and allowed her inside.

The layers of security were troublesome, she knew, but necessary as much of what she worked on with Doctor Foch was still quite secret from the outside world. While many of the Evangelion's secrets had been revealed to the public in the months after the end of the conflict with both the Angels and SEELE, the core knowledge of what made EVA work, and the realities of the project were still heavily shrouded from view. Even more so, that the work started two decades earlier was now continuing albeit in a new direction was an even deeper secret.

Doctor Bernard Foch was bent over one of his workstations while on the phone as Rei entered the laboratory. French, portly with round spectacles, a bushy moustache, and balding hair that was widening with age along with his waistline, Foch had been the one to take the mantle of the deepest scientific matters of Evangelion since the deaths of Ritsuko Agaki and Kozou Fuyutsuki and through that experience had established a close working relationship over the years with his primary test subject.

"Oh, yes, Dr. Hyuga. Do you have the material sample ready?" Foch paused for the answer and then replied back. "Very good. Yes, please have it sent here and I'll keep you informed to how we progress. Very well. Thank you, doctor." He then hung up the phone and greeted Rei without getting up from his chair.

" _Bon soir, mademoiselle_ ,"

" _Bon soir_ ," Rei replied in her whisper-like voice.

"How was your day today?"

"It went well," she replied briefly, removing her jacket and hanging it on a nearby coat rack.

"That was NERV," he told her. "They've agreed to give us a material sample of stem cells from Unit 01." Rei didn't express any outward emotion but listened as Dr. Foch explained further. "If we can apply what we've learned about cellular morphology in phase-shifted matter and if we can work out a way to increase it's compatibility with your own unique physiology, I think we might have a good pathway to the next phase."

Foch stood up out of the chair using a cane to support himself, the need for which had come from a stroke suffered at the height of the war with SEELE over two years earlier. "I've been studying the growth factor pathways since the last treatment, I believe we'll need to do a further adjustment in your hormonal levels but this and with the new genetic material we are perhaps getting closer to where we can embark on Phase III." Rei didn't reply but just nodded as she put her purse at her desk, which was right next to Foch's.

"Are you free for the scanner tonight?" he asked her. "This time might take a few hours as I want to be very careful we set the new hormone levels correctly."

"Of course."

"Very well. We can proceed when you're ready."

Without any further word Rei moved from her desk to the laboratory's main apparatus, a sub-atomic multi-phase quantum scanner and emitter which was a copy of the original device still present at Tokyo-3's GeoFront, the home location of NERV. Rei knew the original device well, having spent much of her earlier life, or was it lives, inside of the narrow plexiglass tube of the scanner.

The new machine had improvements from the earlier one: the scan tube itself was larger in diameter, allowing Rei better freedom of movement inside. There was also a better heater, so LCL used in the device now felt much warmer and more comfortable, enough to where Rei often took naps as she floated freely during scan sessions. Finally, the new scan tube had a control panel for use on the inside, a modification Rei asked for. This allowed her to see a display of any scan results or even to access the terminal while inside of the tube as by now Rei wasn't merely a subject of the study done here, but also a researcher herself.

But as before use of the body scanner required the inside subject to be completely naked, and Rei began undressing in a corner of the laboratory while Foch prepared the unit for that evening's session. Within a moment she removed her shoes, then blouse, skirt, pantyhose and then underwear, and then carefully removed her earrings. Foch indicated that the unit was ready and Rei walked nonchalantly towards the scanner position completely naked. She had done this hundreds of times, both here and at the GeoFront, and it was beyond routine for her. She also trusted Foch after working with him for some time, perhaps as much as she had trusted Gendo Ikari earlier, only now her trust was much more informed.

Foch hit a switch and a transparent plexiglass tube came down from the ceiling, encasing Rei as it reached the floor. A red light came on indicating the tube was sealed, and orange-colored LCL started to flow in from the bottom. It took only a few seconds for Rei to become completely immersed, and she was once again in her most familiar element. To increase the comfort level the LCL was put in at some higher degree of pressure, allowing her to gently float off the surface of the floor.

"Let's begin, shall we?" Foch said, and started to run his first sensor operation. Inside of the plexiglass Rei could see the sensor feedback on her monitor and now knew enough about the insides of her unique body to understand much of what she was reading.

"Estrogen reaction levels are up considerably since the last scan," she said out loud. Foch's voice came in from a speaker at the top of the tube.

"I saw that. Very good. We need to see a bit more improvement in IGF and TGF Beta 1 tonight and if we get it I think we can start looking at promoting the progesterone again. It will take some time my dear, so please relax for a bit and I'll wake you when we've got a full result." Rei didn't reply but instead nodded her head, and then closed her eyes and let herself float in the LCL as the scanner did its work.

As she relaxed in the warm liquid Rei let her mind drift among the thoughts and concerns of the day, but it didn't take long for one topic to make its way to the fore of her consciousness. _Something is wrong with Patrick_ , she knew, _something that's not easy to counteract._

 _I know that he wants me, all of me, body and soul. But at the same time, he is not progressing as he should and is losing focus again. The concern is now becoming a worry. But I still don't know what to do or say._ She let her mind work on the topic as she felt sleep overcome here in the warm and comforting artificial womb of the laboratory.

* * *

 _Thanks for coming to the next installment of Never Jet Alone. That first chapter proved to be pretty popular so I'm hopefully to keep the flow going with quite a bit more about Rei and the Forrestal Twins' new college life, and in this chapter we see a lot more about how our protags go about their academic careers (or lack thereof)._

 _I normally don't like to do a lot of exposition, always feeling that the story should give the background details within dialogue and plot as much possible but being as we're going to be in Cambridge for a few chapters I felt it was worth a few paragraphs to go into what sort of a novel place The New Institute is. By my thinking, the post-Third Impact, post-UN world is going to be different in a lot of ways and once place that's felt strongly is in education as young people will be living in a new world with new frontiers. Children saved the world after all, so how one sees young people and their place in society is changing. Students have a lot more responsibility at New Institute and while it's a science-heavy school, there's a deliberate mixture of science and arts to broaden out learner's minds. But our Patrick is just a bit resistant to all of this._

 _Please give this chapter a good read and we'll continue with another chapter within a couple of weeks. Thanks._


	4. Bulgogi

The next day Patrick woke up in the apartment late. Shaking himself out of bed, he saw the clock on the dresser read "9:37am" and knew that he needed to get himself put together and fast to make his ethics class.

"Erin?" he asked around but there was no answer, as his sister had already left the apartment. Patrick rushed to the bathroom and did all the essential tasks as quickly as possible, then grabbed a grey school logo sweatshirt and sweatpants out of the  
/closet, rushing to get them on. There was another quick stop at the fridge to grab an ice coffee (again it was UCC-brand canned coffee from Japan, to which Patrick was now functionally addicted), and a donut. As he moved towards the front door he  
/saw a small handwritten note on the dining room counter.

"Didn't want to wake you, Sleeping Beauty. Don't forget class this morning. – Erin."

 _I didn't forget class, I just got a late start._ Patrick then grabbed his book bag, found a pair of runners, and made haste towards the classrooms.

Ethics 1 class, held in the largest classroom at The New Institute, was mandatory for all first-year students and was taught by Provost Gallatner himself. The class started promptly at 9:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and as all first-year students needed  
/to attend, the performance hall was used to house the class, which could seat well over a thousand students.

Professor Gallatner, a hefty man of European Jewish extraction with a bushy beard and blue eyes, took a good look at the attendance for today's lecture. He had noticed that within the last few weeks there had been a significant drop in students who were  
/coming to the lecture on time. He also knew who the more attentive students were, the regulars, who wanted to pay attention, as they made it to every lecture early and without fail, but estimated that by this point in the course perhaps thirty or  
/thirty-five percent of the students didn't show up at the start or at all unless an exam was involved. It was a risk, he knew, given his own policy of making sure lectures were always available on media and could be accessed by students at any time.  
/But part of what made his class unique was that the professor usually opened the session up to questions from the students for the last half-hour of the two hour session, and while that Q&A was also recorded students who simply reviewed the lecture  
/missed out on both being able to ask and answer questions as well as some of the interaction that occurred between students and himself right afterwards. It was that experience, discovering truth through direct challenges and learning not to fear  
/it, even if it was found inconvenient or uncomfortable to anyone's lens that to the Gallatner really made Ethics work within the Institute. Having so many students not take punctuality seriously was poor attitude, and as both professor and provost,  
/he knew it needed immediate correction.

"Good morning," Gallatner greeted the class and he received a regular response from a few dozen students, some of which came back in drowsy voices. He looked at the front row before the podium, noticing his "regulars" including the blue-haired Japanese  
/girl who was always in the centerline seat, with an empty seat next to her. Gallatner also knew that the empty seat was empty quite often.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a surprise for you today. Can I ask for two volunteers?" Among the students there were a dozen hands that came up, and the professor picked two, both of whom were boys of a larger stature.

"I'd like both of you to go to the entry doors and close them please." Both boys that were picked went to either side of the assembly hall towards the double-doors where students came in and out and closed the doors.

"Wonderful. Now please lock them." Upon the order, both boys did so.

"Please do us all a favor and don't mention this to the fire marshal, I think he'd have a fit." There was some nervous laughter among the students when he said this. Gallatner then proceeded to the day's agenda.

"I've always stressed attendance and punctuality at the Ethics part of the curriculum, for reasons that all of you know quite well by now. Today those of you who have maintained on-time attendance with me here will be rewarded. While those who have missed  
/this session by not showing up at the beginning of class…will not."

Erin, who sat on the other side of Rei this time on the front row, whispered in her ear. "Patrick picked the wrong day to be late." Rei didn't look back but nodded in agreement.

"Let's begin today's test, shall we?" Gallatner continued. "please review on the screen," he pointed with the stylus to the giant projection screen behind him as he said this, "and then pick only one question. Then use a single sheet of paper to answer  
/the question, use both sides. There is no minimum or maximum answer requirement. If you can answer the question in a single sentence, please do so. You have one hour starting…now."

There was a flurry of scuffles as students quickly pulled out clean paper and notebooks. The professor didn't permit electronic submissions of classwork, all answers had to be written by hand unless students were physically incapable.

"Oh, and to the two gentlemen at the doors?" The heads of both tall boys turned towards the professor.

"Today for your efforts, you pass _gratis mundi_." The smiles of both of the boys were immediately seen on their faces.

While Erin pulled out her writing board and her pen, she cursed at Patrick for not showing up to today of all days. _Damn it, all you had to do was come and raise your hand once, and you could have gotten a complete pass. Patrick you're a nuclear-powered idiot!_

Patrick ran towards the assembly hall, reaching it by 9:55pm. _Okay just a few minutes late, it should be fine._ While he didn't know what would happen that day, he knew that Professor Gallatner was very unpredictable, and very quick to not suffer  
/fools especially if they were his students. He just hoped that his late entry wouldn't be commented on like it had been a few times before.

Rushing to the double-doors, Patrick pulled on them and found them suddenly locked. _What the hell?_ He pulled on them several times, shaking violently but to no avail. With no windows outside the assembly hall to see what was happening, Patrick  
/was stuck outside to wonder what indeed had gone on to require the building to be locked.

 _I've got a bad feeling about this…_

Patrick was quite correct. Unable to make it inside of the classroom, he gave up and then wandered around the campus until reaching a video arcade in the student services center, and passing the time playing until lunch came up.

Once 11:45am flashed on his watch, Patrick promptly pulled out his phone and texted Rei.

ME: So how did class go?

There was however no answer.

Wondering if Rei was stalled somehow, Patrick then texted Erin with another message.

ME: So what happened in class? The doors were locked.

But from Erin there was also no answer either.

Normally the three of them would grab lunch on campus and then to go their various classes afterwards, and Tuesdays after class also consisted of ballet instruction for both Rei and Erin. Patrick knew he still had a dinner date with Rei tonight, but something  
/in the back of his mind started to scratch very hard.

 _Did I just screw this up?_

Not knowing how else to deal with the matter, Patrick walked the ten minutes back to his apartment. Erin hadn't returned yet, so he simply grabbed out some rice and BBQ chicken from the fridge and ate lunch by himself.

 _I have class again this afternoon, physics, which I really just hate. But maybe I really have been just blowing this stuff off. Guess I really need to get started on this._

It was then when his phone buzzed. All students at the New Institute had notification of their academic progress via mail and text message, and if a score or grade was ready from an exam or other classwork, students were promptly notified. In this case  
/Patrick received two messages.

TNI Registrar: Your grade for the Final Exam in Ethics 1 (Gallatner) has been posted at 12:15pm. Click on link to see.

TNI Registrar: Your academic status has changed. Click on link to see.

Patrick clicked the link within the first text message and saw a PDF report that listed both his test grade and his current overall grade in the course.

SECTION TEST: 0/100

COURSE GRADE : 53/100

 _Oh, shit…_

The note also helpfully informed him that "any petitions to change or re-take tests needed to be submitted in writing and would be granted at the instructor's discretion," to which Patrick figured he might as well just jump into the campus lake wearing  
/cement shoes, as Gallatner was not known for his mercy on flaky students.

Now properly warned, Patrick opened the second message link.

DUE TO UNACCEPTABLY LOWER GRADE LEVELS YOU HAVE BEEN PLACED ON ACADEMIC PROBATION. YOU MUST MAINTAIN A GPA OF 2.5 OR HIGHER TO CONTINUE ADMISSION IN TNI AND BE ENROLLED FOR THE SUBSEQUENT TERM. YOU WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY ENROLLED IN REMISSION COURSE TO….

The Remission course was basically for academically poor students, of which there were few at TNI, although after today's stunt from Gallatner Patrick figured he wouldn't be the only student being flushed down the toilet. Patrick didn't read the rest  
/of the message contents, as he knew where he stood and it wasn't good, solid ground. Then again, he had a secret weapon against having his grades sink too low, one that he had employed earlier several times, and would have to come out of the hanger  
/for one more covert strike.

The door to the apartment opened and Erin burst in. _Just who I needed to see_ , Patrick through.

"Hey, Sis!" he said.

"Go get lost," Erin replied angrily, and then made a straight path to her bedroom.

"Wait, Erin! What the hell?"

Patrick went to her door but found it slammed in his face. "Hey, Erin," he called out as he knocked on the door. There was silence from the other side and Patrick stood there and racked his brain for how to get on his twin's good side _. She hasn't been this pissed off since she stole the EVA._

"Look I get it! I screwed up, okay. Just you gotta help me out here."

The door quickly opened. Erin, now dressed in a black leotard with spaghetti straps and white tights, was still furious with Patrick, "You have no idea how badly you screwed up!"

"Hey,' Patrick protested as Erin went to her wardrobe to get a black skirt and sweater. "Hey, I'm trying to make it right, okay. I just need help with this last one thing and I'll stick to my studies, I totally promise."

"Help _how_ , smart-ass?"

"Just…just do that thing you did before. You know..."

Erin did know, and was increasingly upset over the matter. "Oh, you mean hack into the school's computer and change your test grade?"

"Well, yeah. I mean there's a thousand students in Gallatner's class, how the hell is he going to know?"

"Listen Genius, turns out Gallatner actually tracks you pretty good. He knew you weren't there today on time along with the rest of the flakes, and so he locked out all of the late students."

"So what? Can you just change my grade then?"

"NO, I can't!" Erin argued. "Gallatner only has one class. He knows you didn't attend. All of these are based on handwritten papers we gave in the exam. There's no changing that! Even If I hack his grading, then he'll notice it and then he'll also notice  
/how it happened and then it won't be just you being kicked out but me too! And I'm not doing that for you."

"Fine, then. What the hell should I do!?"

"Not my problem anymore, if you're not serious about school then just go to the shooting range and work on that full-time. At least you're good for something." Erin got her dance bag from her closet and then pushed her way through Patrick out the doorway  
/and towards the front door of the apartment.

"I've got math and then dance and then I won't be back for a while. Diego's taking me out tonight. Don't expect me to come back early."

"Fine then, I'm okay. I'm out with Rei tonight anyway." Patrick then made a sudden realization. "Oh, shit. Does she know?"

"You're such a genius, figure that out for yourself!" and with that Erin went out the front door and slammed it behind her. Patrick just stood there and stared at the door, now completely unsure of what his future held.

Patrick spend a few more hours in the apartment doing little more than drinking coffee and trying to think on how to approach his crisis. _Academic probation wasn't suspension, right?_ They weren't kicking him out just yet but he'd be on the "failure"  
/track and when he needed a 2.5 to pass the semester it would be an uphill climb, not to mention he now had a giant, solid "F" in one class that probably couldn't be changed despite any last-minute heroics.

Nonetheless he got changed and figured out at least he'd have a nice dinner with Rei and then he'd work on the problem. He was important, Patrick figured, and he knew people like Admiral Vinson. Maybe he just had to find the correct shoulder to cry on  
/to fix things. _Fuck I hate school_ , he admitted, _and I guess school hates me back_.

After three months in Cambridge and a successive set of date nights Patrick and Rei had settled on one restaurant as "their" place. A Korean restaurant called Dong Young Bak that was in the city's old Harvard Square district was ideal for them, as it  
/was close to campus, relatively quiet, and had a menu with a full range of vegetarian dishes much to Rei's taste. So if Patrick proposed a dinner out and didn't specify a location, it was understood between the two of them that DYB as the restaurant  
/was commonly known was the spot. So by 6:30 Patrick walked hurriedly through downtown Cambridge to make sure he was on time.

Wearing a dark grey sport coat, button down white shirt and grey slacks, Patrick at least looked cleaned up. Once through the front door he scanned the restaurant table to locate Rei and it didn't take more than a few seconds to see her azure blue hair  
/and the rest of her seated at a booth at the rear of the restaurant. She wore a black sweater and matching skirt, with white tights and black flats, and her hair was done up in a bun. He made his way between the other tables, waving hi to the friendly  
/Korean hostess who he already knew from being there over a dozen times before.

Patrick reached the booth and was about to lean over to Rei to greet her with a hug and a kiss when he saw her face. It was completely without emotion, as if old Rei from three years ago had returned. _Oh no_ , he thought, as from spending years  
/together Patrick as much as anyone knew Rei's own moods and knew that when she "shut down" her emotions it didn't mean they were gone. Instead it was because she was bottling them up on account that they were boiling furiously. He wasn't out of the  
/doghouse yet, he now knew.

"Hi," he greeted her in a friendly if very awkward tone, sitting down in the seat opposite the booth couch. Rei said nothing in reply, but simply stared intently at him.

"How long have you been here?"

"I have ordered for you already," she told him in a monotone, flat voice.

"Thanks," he said, "sorry it took me a bit longer to get here, I was…"

"Why are you cheating on your classes?" Rei suddenly demanded.

Patrick was quiet, now in shock from her very direct manner _. Was this going to be a fight?_ Because fights with Rei, albeit rare, were just uncomfortable for him as could be.

"Say that again?"

"You are cheating on your classes," Rei told him, "and you are asking Forri-chan to help you to do it."

"She only helps me sometimes, and I don't cheat the tests," Patrick shrugged. "But yeah, Erin's hacked my grade file a few times when it came out too badly. Did she tell you?"

"She did not need to," Rei said, now with stronger emotion in her voice. She was no longer speaking in a monotone but with strength and anger, something which Patrick hadn't heard from Rei in a very long time.

"You put her at risk for your own sake," Rei said to Patrick. "How can you do that?"

"Because I'm still adjusting to this school and how it works. It's totally different from either Japan or the US, and I was never in a regular high school in the US."

"That is incorrect," Rei corrected, "you went to school in Maine."

"Oh, yeah, there was that. But Chamberlin was for like a half-year, that's all. This is all totally different."

"It is no excuse," Rei continued to admonish him. "If Forri-chan is caught changing your grades again she will be expelled, as will you."

"Fine, I won't do it again. I promise."

"You're not piloting anymore. You need to focus on your education."

"That's what I'm doing!"

"At the arcade?!"

"Well, um, I need that!" Patrick defended. "Hell, do you have any idea how much stress I've got doing all of this?"

"You do much less than me each day," Rei scolded. "You waste your time."

"Okay! Okay then, you got me! I'm struggling, that's all!"

"You talk so much but you don't say anything," Rei declared. "Nothing here comes from your heart."

Patrick now felt himself becoming angry, and in a way that was difficult for him to control. "How can you accuse me of that? The whole reason why I'm here at all is for you, and for Erin. So that we can all be together, isn't that what we wanted?"

"But you are not here for yourself? Then what are you doing?"

Patrick started to say something but struggled for an answer, not feeling at all confident in what he was saying. Rei was completely beyond bullshit, he knew, but how could he convince her now that he was serious about being at school.

"Look, I'm doing all of this for your sake so please at least bear me out!"

Rei grabbed her purse from the couch and put the strap over her shoulder. "Is it not for my sake that you fail your classes? It is not for my sake that you do not study when you need to. It is not for my sake when you do not participate in anything of  
/meaning. How can I expect you to be at my side if you don't take it seriously?"

"I do! I do take it seriously."

"If you did, you would not have to say it." At that moment a waiter came to the table with a sizzling plate of barbequed beef. It was an unusual choice of dish, as Rei didn't eat meat and Patrick always avoided it to not irritate Rei while dining there.  
/"Wait, is this for the right table?" he asked the waiter.

"Yes, sir!" the man said and laid the dish down in front of Patrick. Confused, he looked at Rei. "Are you eating meat now?"

Rei narrowed her glance at him, "I ordered it for _you_." She then stood up and walked out of the booth.

"Rei, wait! Wait!" he shouted, unconcerned with the others in the restaurant but Rei just walked out the door. Seeing her go he let out a long sigh, his heart dropping to the floor. Patrick turned back to the table and saw the sizzling plate of meat in  
/front of him. _That's pretty much how I feel right now: slaughtered and cooked._

It wasn't until after midnight when Erin came back to the apartment, humming a tune and feeling light after a very pleasant evening with Diego, who had proved the perfect gentlemen yet again. Fresh memories ran in her mind of walking along the breakwater  
/of Mystic River in the moonlight hand in hand, just taking her time with someone who she hoped would be strong and gentle with her. She thanked whatever powers there were in the world for her good luck this once. Now for damage control, she figured  
/as she keyed open the front door of their place.

When Erin stepped inside the apartment was deathly quiet, no TV, no music. Was Patrick even back yet? But she looked down where they kept their shoes and she saw both Patrick's loafers and runners on the floor. _So he's here._

"Patrick?" she called out as she closed the front door and sluffed off her dress boots. "Hey, Bro are you here?" _Maybe he's still pissed off at me after our fight today._ Erin walked quietly to Patrick's bedroom and knocked at the door.

"Hey, Bro, are you in there?" There wasn't a sound initially but Erin sensed that he was in the room. _Sleeping? Or crying, or something worse? He must have had a fight tonight with Rei. No way that was going to be avoided after this morning._

"I'm coming in," she said and gently turned the doorknob.

Inside of Patrick's bedroom he had set up a large, makeshift table out of cinder blocks and a rectangular sheet of plywood. On it were about five thousand pieces of jigsaw all scattered around the surface, with only a few making the edges of an outside  
/frame. There was also an empty chair next to the table. Erin looked around and saw him on the veranda as the large glass door was open and the drapes pulled away. Patrick just looked outside to the city lights in silence.

Barefoot on the carpet Erin walked silently to her brother, gently putting her hand on his shoulder. Patrick turned to see that it was her.

"Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," she replied, smiling at him. Patrick didn't smile back however.

Erin leaned closely against him. "I'm sorry for yelling at you today," she told him. "I just blew my top."

"It's alright," he said at a whisper. "Family squabbles, right? Beats wanting to kill me."

"Yeah, that's true," Erin said, laughing a little and relived that Patrick at least had some sense of humor left. "I guess it didn't go well with her, did it?"

"No," he told her, "No I think maybe I totally screwed the pooch on this one. Still, though, can't argue that she had a reason to be upset."

"I see you got a puzzle out," Erin said to him. "You haven't done that in a while."

"Yeah," Patrick replied, sniffling a bit. Erin heard the sniffle and studied her brother's face in the shadows of the night, only now realizing that he had indeed been crying.

"I don't know what to do," he told her. "I mean, I came here totally hoping that this would be this great experience with all three of us, finally away from the others in Japan, finally sort of in our home turf, right? And this whole school thing has  
/been a hell on earth."

"Well, that's what happens when you try to put a non-science guy into a top tier science program," replied Erin. "You're just not cut out for this."

"What am I cut out for then?" Patrick asked. "I mean, it's not like I can go back to piloting EVA, can I? Even If I wanted to."

"Are you seriously thinking about that?"

Patrick turned around to face Erin, his face was still flush with emotion. "I used to hate EVA so much, but now it feels like without it I'm lost. Why? I wanted what I have now so much but I just can't make it work. Yet I don't know what else I can do."

"You want to go back to Big Bear?" Erin asked.

"Tsk," said Patrick, "there's nothing there for me either. I guess I don't have much in the way of things when it all boils down. I mean you're asuper computer whiz, and Rei's such a scientific genius she peruses textbooks for light reading. Everyone  
elseseems to have their act together, heck Shinji and Asuka are in music school and seem to be doing well. Mari's happy doing whatever it is that she's doing, even I'm not quite sure. Everyone except me."

"You'll find your way," Erin said to Patrick, trying to be encouraging. "You already made a good first step."

"What do you mean? What, the puzzle?"

"Yeah," she told him. "I missed that part about you and was wondering when you'd break out that birthday present I gave you. Is five thousand pieces enough?"

Patrick now laughed and smiled back at Erin for the first time that night. "It better be." He took a deep breath in the night air. "Sorry I got you into this."

"Don't be sorry," she told him. "But don't get any ideas here ether, I'm not changing any more grades for you."

"I'm done with that," he told her. "Let me work on this stupid thing and then I can think for once." He then touched her face with his hand, grateful to have her in his life. "Thanks," he told her.

Erin didn't say anything in reply but instead just put her arms around Patrick and brought him close, holding him tightly. She could feel his face dug into her shoulder, and knew he felt fearful. Rei meant everything to him and having her so angry at  
/him had unsettled him emotionally. His arms went around her and they held each other tight in the night wind for a long while.


	5. Close Quarters

Nightmares were a very familiar part of Patrick's past, as from his early childhood right up until his experience with EVA nearly every night he had been subjected to a series of horrific images in his sleep. The scenes were wide and varied, but always horrifying, vividly representing his fears of abandonment and being isolated. It was not until EVA, and more accurately upon his full reunion with his twin sister did his nightmares finally abate.

But not long after he had started at school Patrick's nightmares had come back and were again becoming an almost nightly experience. He would try to fight the nightmares off on his own as he no longer wanted to be out of control within his own head, even when he slept. Every night had proved to be a struggle however and tonight was no exception.

That night it started as more of a dream than a nightmare. He was standing in a hotel room in an unknown location. There was but one piece of furniture in the room, a large bed with a white set of covers. Behind him was a voice.

"I'll be in the shower." He turned around and saw Rei. She was dressed in a lavender-colored minidress and heels, her hair cut short like she wore it in her younger years. Patrick just heard himself say "okay," and Rei went into the adjoining bathroom. The image in his mind jumped and then he himself was in the bathroom.

The shower was a transparent box in front of him, and inside was Rei. She was naked and wet, the water drooping her hair downwards as she cleaned herself up. Patrick noticed that he wasn't wearing any clothing either. He felt himself walking towards the shower door and opening it, and then Rei turned around to see him, the handle of the water spray in her hand. He could see all of her now, her firm breasts with their nipples erect, and the parts below which were completely uncovered and enticing to him. Patrick went towards her, and gently ran his hands down her arms. Rei responded by reaching up on her toes and kissing him, a kiss that became deeper and deeper as he started to fall into her.

The image jumped forward again and they were now in the bed, he on the bottom and she on top. Rei gently moved forward and he could feel her breathing and his own. His heart raced, he felt inexplicably crazy all over his body as Rei took her hands and folded them in his own. There was a strong sensation on his part and Rei cried out, but the cry wasn't one of pleasure. Patrick looked up at her and saw the panic in her face as her skin began to change color from pale white to blood red. He heard a scream and watched helplessly as Rei began to disintegrate into thin air, whisping in to red swirls of particles that then broke apart in the wind.

"Rei! Rei! REI!"

He pushed himself awake, panting furiously. When he awoke he was back in his own bed, sitting upright. His face and his hair were drenched. A second later the door opened as Erin didn't even bother to knock this time.

"You okay?" she asked as she moved to the bed.

Patrick didn't respond immediately but sat himself straighter as his sister reached for a water bottle that was on his nightstand. The boy grabbed the bottle and downed all of it in a few rushed gulps.

"Nightmare again?" Erin asked.

"Yeah," confirmed Patrick. He tried to think coherently and then reached for his phone. "Where's Rei?"

"She has swimming in the mornings usually, you know that."

Patrick had to confirm the dream wasn't something else. Quickly he texted Rei without even thinking about the fight they had earlier.

ME: You OK?

There was no reply, and Patrick panicked. Again, he texted the message.

ME: Are you OK? Just want to be sure.

Still there was no reply.

"I gotta find her," Patrick said. Erin didn't look that concerned. "Common sense, bro. If she's swimming she's not going to answer her texts right away. Just wait a bit." But Patrick ignored her and punched a speed-dial on his mobile phone.

"Lifeguard," a female voice answered.

"Need status on ANGEL, stat," Patrick asked.

There was a slight delay and then the female voice calmly came back. "Confirmed in Swimming Pool. Eyes on her now." Patrick sighed in relief.

"Thank you," he said to the security dispatcher and then hung up the phone.

Erin gave him a knowing glance. "Told you," she said.

"Yeah, I know, but I just had to make sure," replied Patrick. "Just got a horrible feeling about her, that's all."

Patrick's phone buzzed a moment later. He grabbed it and read the message:

REI: I am OK. Did something happen?

He thought to text her back but then just made a call instead. Rei picked up on the first ring.

"Sorry," Patrick started before Rei could say anything. "I…I just wanted to be sure you were alright, that's all. I didn't mean to bother you."

"It's not a bother," Rei replied. "But are you okay?"

"Um, no. I'm not, I guess. Nightmares, the usual." There was a long pause where neither spoke to the other.

Finally Patrick spoke again. "Hey, I, um, Look I really screwed up last night. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me," Rei told him. "You should apologize to yourself. You are the one being hurt the most."

"Yeah, I know that and, um, well anyway I've been acting stupid and all, and dragging you and Erin through it. But the truth is…well," Patrick struggled to get the words out as Rei silently listened. This was something he knew he didn't really want to do on the phone either.

"Can I see you? Is that alright?"

"Yes," Rei said simply.

"Today?"

"My second class today is cancelled, so I am going to _Scriveners_ downtown. Can you meet me there? Around eleven?"

"I'll be there."

There was a soft grunt from Rei and then she hung up the phone. Patrick sat silently at the edge of the bed, trying to mentally work out where he stood with her as he still wasn't sure.

Patrick had a Chemistry class that morning and this time he attended as soon as he got cleaned up, dressed in another pair of school logo sweatshirt and sweatpants, and then ran out of the house towards school. This time he arrived before class started, to the startled looks of many of his classmates. Feeling drowsy for most of the class, Patrick just made the best effort he could and tried to keep up with notetaking and paying attention. But thoughts of the nightmare with Rei would not leave his mind that entire morning.

After the lecture he slung his backpack and headed off campus to downtown Cambridge, which was perhaps a thirty-minute walk. Looking around he spotted Dylan shadowing him from a short distance and waived, walking towards him as the security guard caught up to Patrick.

"Good morning!" greeted Dylan cheerfully.

"'Morning," Patrick replied.

"So, where we headed?"

" _Scriveners_."

"Ah, ANGEL's favorite hideout. Lunch date?"

"I hope so. Actually, I'm not quite sure where I stand now."

"Oh, she's not going to be that hard on you for long," Dylan assured him, apparently knowing about the spat between Patrick and Rei. "I've seen how she keeps up on you,"

"What do you mean?"  
"She stopped by your apartment last night," Dylan said. "I mean, she didn't knock on the door or anything but just kept close by. Probably to make sure you didn't jump off the patio or anything."

"Did I seem that out of it?"

"We're supposed to guard your lives, remember? No one of us wants to be the one to scrape your brains off the sidewalk," said the bodyguard. "You might keep the screaming down a bit when you wake up, however. Your neighbors are starting to complain."

Patrick laughed at his comment and then finally smiled a little. "Dude, I'm so fucked up at the moment."

"Been there, believe me. Love does that to you."

"Any luck with that?" Patrick asked him.

"Yeah, for me it all turned out okay, at least for a while" replied Dylan. "Then those assholes at SEELE started doing shit back then and suddenly we all had bigger problems."

At just before eleven Rei arrived at _Scriveners_ , which was set up on the ground floor of a three-story red brick building that was over a hundred years old and was one of the few surviving buildings left in Cambridge from the 19th century. On the front of the store was a sign that read "SCRIVENERS: USED AND RARE BOOKSELLERS SINCE 1893." Rei opened the front door and stepped inside leaving her security escort, which consisted of two female agents clad in dark-colored suits, outside the store. Rei herself wore a navy sweater with a white collared blouse underneath, matched with a red and black plaid long skirt, black woolen tights and simple black flats. Today she wore her hair long and loose around her shoulders and had her glasses on as she normally did.

The inside of the bookstore was as one might expect as a repository of old books, a bit musty with the smell of old paper and rag. There were tall shelves fully packed with books of all kinds, shapes and sizes, and many of them probably twenty or more years old. In addition to the shelves, there were stacks of books simply lying flat on the floor, some of which towered above Rei's own head, and ultimately leaving very narrow alleyways to walk between the bookshelves.

Opening the front door had rung a small bronze bell tied to the door's edge, and that had alerted the store's owner and keeper, Mr. Chadwick, to the incoming patron. He saw Rei in one of the alleys between the bookshelves and immediately recognized her. "Ah, Miss Reiko!" he greeted her as he was like most people in and around Cambridge, unaware of her true identity.

Mr. Chadwick was an older, slender man of English and Scottish mixture, with a head of white hair and a pair of narrow trifocals that rested on his nose. "So good to see you again!" he said. Rei simply smiled and nodded in greeting him.

"It's funny that you're here today," the owner continued, "as I have recently come across something I'm sure you'd like to see." Mr. Chadwick scurried to the back of his own clerk's booth while Rei turned her attention to a row of science books that were in front of her.

In less than a minute the old man had located what he sought and returned to Rei with a large, green-fabric bound book in his arms. "Here we are." He presented Rei with the book and she carefully examined it as he spoke.

"John James Audubon's _Birds of America_ , 1937 first printing," he described. "Of course, the original work goes back to the 1820s but those are exceedingly rare." Rei opened the book and started to page through it, noticing the color plates within the text that were still brightly vivid.

"As you can see this is in excellent condition, with the color elements completely intact," Mr. Chadwick went on. "This was the first true mass-market printing for Audubon's seminal work." Rei herself was exceedingly impressed with the tome. "This is very interesting," she told him. "The colors are very lifelike."

"All before photography was even invented," Mr. Chadwick told her. "Done in watercolors and not oil-based painting, which was the standard at the time, but amazingly true to nature."

Rei continued to leaf through the book with a slight smile on her face. At one point she took it and brought it up to her nose, taking a strong whiff and then letting out her breath in a relaxed sensation. "It smells good." Mr. Chadwick chuckled.

"Yes, there's nothing quite like the smell of an old book."

"How much?"

"It's quite expensive, Miss Reiko. Perhaps over a student's budget but I though you should look at it nonetheless."

"How much?" Rei persisted.

"Four hundred US dollars."

"I'll buy it," she quickly replied.

The owner was surprised. "Are you quite sure?"

"It's no trouble," she told him. "Cash?"

The bell rang and both Rei and the owner turned towards the door to see who had now come in. Through the entry came a mother and a young boy, both of whom Rei recognized from the campus day care center.

"Mommy," the boy called out upon spotting Rei. "Big Sister Reiko is here!" This proved a pleasant surprise to the mother.

"Well, hello," she greeted Rei. "It's nice to see you here too." Rei smiled and nodded and little Yoshi came right up to her, giving her a hug as Rei bent down to receive him.

"Mrs. Fredericks, I presume?" asked Mr. Chadwick.

"Yes, Hi. I'm the one who called earlier. Did you have the book I asked for?"

"From the Richard Scarry collection, yes? I did. They're wonderful books for children."

"I know," said Yoshi's mother. "I remembered them from when I was growing up and I just wanted to have one for little Yoshi here. Also, I wanted to ask. If I wanted to sell a book that might be valuable, do you buy such things?"

"Oh, all the time. Although I tend to find people who love books are usually unwilling to part easily with them."

"Ah, yes. However, my father recently passed away…"

"…. I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Yes, thank you, but anyway he left me a considerable number of books and I've gone through and found one or two that might be worth something to someone," she then dug through her large handbag trying to find the book she was discussing. "Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced it. I think it's in my car."

"Quite all right, we're open until seven o'clock if you want to come back."

"Actually, I'm parked very close." The mother turned again to Rei, this time speaking in Japanese instead of English. "Reiko-chan, I'm so sorry to ask for a favor but can you watch Yoshi-kun here for a few minutes while I go out to my car and fetch my other book."

"I can do that," Rei replied in Japanese. "It's no trouble at all."

"Thank you, I'll only be a moment." The mother then quickly went out the store's front door and rushed out to her parked car while the owner again went behind his clerk's desk and then to a staircase that led to his basement below, where he stored books that were reserved or not out for display or purchase.

Below her, Yoshi spotted the book in Rei's hands. "What is that?" he asked, pointing to it.

Rei knelt to speak to him. "It's a book about birds. Do you want to see it?" Yoshi enthusiastically nodded his head.

There was a small stool nearby that Rei took and moved towards her, then she said down on the stool and carefully hoisted Yoshi to sit on her lap. Once both were seated Rei then opened the large book and gently turned the pages so that the boy could see the color plates.

"Wow!" said Yoshi. "There's all kinds!"

Rei decided to make a game of it with him. "Do you know this kind?" she pointed to one color plate.

"Robin! Red Robin!"

"Good. How about this one?"

"Blue Jay!"

"Very good. And this one?"

"Owl!"

"Good, it's a Great Horned Owl."

The boy was curious. "It has horns? Like a bull?"

"No," Rei explained. "But the feathers on his head look like horns. See?"

The two of them kept at it, going through several pages of the old book as Rei would ask the boy to guess each bird he saw, something he was good at despite his young age.

"Eagle! Bald Eagle!"

"Eagle, but not Bald Eagle. Golden Eagle."

"He's made of gold?"

Rei was about to reply when she heard a loud sound outside of the shop. POWPOWPOWPOWPOW POWPOWPOWPOWPOW.

"Fireworks!" the boy shouted. But Rei knew better.

"No," she told him, and quickly pulled the boy from her lap as she stood up.

Rei stood silently and watched the front door as she pushed Yoshi behind her. There was a second set of POWPOWPOWs outside and then a dead silence for thirty seconds. Then the bell rang as the front door swung open.

Inside came two men, both with unkempt long black hair and wearing what appeared to be olive drab combat jackets and blue jeans. One man was older, perhaps in his forties, while the other was much younger. Both were armed.

When the two gunmen spotted Rei, both became cautious. The older one approached her slowly, speaking to her in Japanese.

"Holy one," he said to her using a very formal dialect, "it is you that we seek. Please come with us."

Rei did nothing however except stand where she was, shielding the young boy behind her.

"Lady Lilith," the older man addressed her again, "it is time for you to reach your true destiny. Please come with us."

"I will not go with you," Rei replied with determination. She watched the eyes of the two men and how they examined both her and the young boy, and she knew they would likely try to capture both.

Behind Rei there were footsteps, as Mr. Chadwick was coming up from the basement. "What was that loud noise?" he asked as he climbed up behind the clerk's station. Once the owner reached the top he then spotted the two attackers, and they him.

"Wait a minute, what are you doing here?!" called out Mr. Chadwick, who then reached for his walking stick that was hung on the wall behind the clerk's desk. The old man moved as fast as he could, stick in hand, ready to charge the intruders. But Rei could see the younger one pull up his weapon, a short-barreled AK-74 assault rifle. Unable to move herself otherwise endangering the child she shielded, Rei could only scream.

" _Tenshu-san!"_ (meaning shopkeeper)

The old man raised his cane to strike at the target nearest him and was unaware of the complete danger until it was too late. A short burst of fire from the assault rifle ripped into his chest and immediately brought him to the floor. Rei pushed back from the alley, and Yoshi behind her started to scream himself.

"Mommy! Mommy!"

The older man now approached Rei as she backed up. "My lady, please let there be no more death today. Come with us now." He reached out his hand. Rei instead pushed the child further behind her and started directly at her assailant.

"No."

Patrick and Dylan were less than a thousand feet away when they heard the first burst of gunfire. Both stopped as the fire started.

"Holy shit," Dylan said as he started for his radio.

In front of him Patrick saw brief flashes of fire and light and knew with certainly what the sound was. He also knew that the sound came from where they were headed, downtown Cambridge, where the bookstore was. It took only a half-second for him to make the decision he needed to.

"Romeo 14 to control, we hear gunfire, over." Dylan called out on his headset.

"Control to Romeo 14, ANGEL IS DANGER ENGAGED. Secure PUZZLE as priority over."

"Copy that, Control." Dylan then released the talk button and immediately searched for Patrick, knowing he had to get him to safety as his priority. "Patrick? Patrick!?" Dylan quickly looked around and spotted the boy, who was now sprinting as fast as he could toward the source of the gunfire.

"Goddamnit, Patrick! Get back here!" Dylan called out and immediately started in pursuit.

Patrick ran as fast as he could, pushing himself and digging in his heels to the pavement as he sprinted towards the bookstore. He didn't know what to expect, except that he had a horrible feeling Rei was in deep trouble.

In less than two minutes from when started, Patrick reached the scene in front of _Scriveners_. To his left there were two bodies of men face down on the pavement, a lake of blood flowing from one of them with several red blooms visible on his olive drab jacket. He had a submachine gun in his hands, and there was another firearm in the grip of the other man that was down. To Patrick's right there were three bodies, one was a blue-uniformed Cambridge Police officer, lying with his back to the bookstore front. His eyes looked upward towards a red hole that was protruding through his forehead, but he was not moving. The second was a Japanese woman with long black hair dressed in a dark suit. She was lying face up on the sidewalk, her white blouse stained with half a dozen red entry points. The woman still held a MiniUzi submachine gun in her left hand. The third was a woman of darker complexion, also wearing a dark grey suit. She was leaning against the front wall of the bookstore, and there were several entry points throughout her body. Unlike the others, her eyes were still open and moving, and she was still breathing, gripping a Beretta 92 pistol in her right hand.

There was a crowd of onlookers that was backed up perhaps ten meters from the scene of the gunfight. Among them was a woman in her early thirties who was panicked and screaming towards Patrick.

"My Baby!" she cried out, "My baby is in there!"

What Patrick did next he could only describe later as instinct, he didn't feel as if he willed himself but somehow his body took over from his mind. Seeing the still-alive security guard, Patrick reached for the pistol in her right hand and took it, quickly using his thumb to eject the magazine in the handle. The metal ammo clip slid out into his other hand and Patrick could see that it was loaded with live, hollow-point 9mm rounds. He rapidly slapped it back into the pistol and slid the action to load a bullet in the chamber, and then he reached for the doorknob of the front door.

Inside of the bookstore Rei had backed herself into a far corner of the shop as the two men slowly approach her and Yoshi. They had not tried to shoot her yet, or the boy, but she knew that physically she would be unable to prevail in any attempt to defend herself or him. She also could not let them win today. With the apparent elimination of her security guards Rei had but one remaining option.

"My lady, the time is now," the older man said, now getting to within a meter next to her.

Rei's expression went into something completely neutral however, and suddenly there was a projection from her. A green-tinted field of energy spread between her and the two intruders, shaped with hexagonal patterns and reaching from the floor to the ceiling. Both men gasped in shock.

"An AT Field!" exclaimed the younger man.

"She truly is The One," said the other.

The doorbell rang and both men turned to the front of the store. The younger one didn't live long enough to see who had entered, as two rounds from Patrick's pistol found his chest and ripped it wide open. The young boy screamed as Rei grabbed him in her arms, pushing back to the rear wall of the shop as the older assailant dove for cover behind one of the bookshelves.

"REI!" Patrick shouted as he moved inside, pistol held with two hands and his eyes on the gunsight.

"There's one left!" she shouted back.

Patrick heard a scuffling and dove for cover behind another bookshelf as the older gunman brought up his own weapon, a VP-70 machine pistol, and fired a burst of round towards the front door. Patrick crouched downward, still holding his pistol with both hands and trying to get all of himself hidden behind the cover of the bookshelf. He took a quick peek around the corner and was met with another burst of gunfire.

 _She's trapped in back. She and whoever else is here. And this guy's in between_. Racking his mind on what the next move was, Patrick knew it had to be soon otherwise the fight could end badly for him and everyone else.

He could hear the footsteps of the remaining gunman, who was also hiding behind another bookshelf to get cover, so Patrick figured that the target was in the middle of the store. Patrick's shelf was closest to the door, and there was one shelf in the rear before reaching the back of the shop.

 _One way to get to the target would be to go to the end of the shelf and try to dodge and get in the middle, then fight him in close range. But he'll see me making that move. The ranges here are in feet, not yards, no way to evade._ Patrick looked at the top of the shelf he hid behind, trying to determine any advantage. _There's only lots of books piled on top, he saw. Lots of books piled on top…._

With all his strength Patrick pushed his body weight into the bookshelf, forcing it towards the center shelf. Fortunately, it wasn't pinned down to the floors and the shelf went easily, falling towards the center bookshelf in a flood of books. It was a risky move, he knew, because he was eliminating his own protection, but the sudden and unpredictable fall of the bookshelves would flush out his target.

One bookshelf pushed into another and like dominos they fell in unison, with dozens of older books dropping from the tops of the shelves where they were stacked on top of the attacker as he tried to hide behind the collapsing shelf for cover. With the shelves collapsing, the terrorist fled for the edge of the alleyway to avoid being crushed, and right into Patrick's gunsights.

The gunman swung around to see Patrick standing upright, his pistol in both hands and aimed right at him. "Don't move!" Patrick shouted. The assailant hesitated, machine pistol still in hand. He looked behind him, seeing Rei backed up against the rear wall of the store, still holding the young boy in his arms and still protected by the AT Field in front of her.

But then the doorbell rang again, and as the front door opened the gunman rushed towards it and brought up his pistol in front of him, attempting to escape by blasting his way through the open door and whoever was in front of him.

It only took one shot. Patrick put a round in his upper chest, trying to avoid killing the man but wanting to stop him. It was only then when the terrorist went down to the floor.

Out from the front door was Dylan, his own Sig Sauer up and ready. He approached the gunman with his pistol aimed at him, screaming "Don't move! DON'T MOVE!"

The gunman did move however and put the barrel of his pistol to his mouth. Then he pulled the trigger. There was a loud burst and a thick cloud of blood, flesh, and smoke, and then there wasn't much left of his head as his body jerked, then stopped.

Dylan looked and saw Patrick, his own pistol gripped and aimed at the now headless body in front of them. Patrick was breathing hard, his eyes wide. After scanning to see who else was standing and who was not, Dylan then loudly called out "CLEAR!" Patrick hesitated then seconded the motion.

"Clear!"

Patrick finally lowered his pistol and got out of his firing stance. Rei had dropped her AT Field and then moved towards both men, letting Yoshi down from her arms. The boy's head had been pressed against Rei's chest and was fortunately able to avoid seeing the most horrible results of the gunfight. "His mother is outside," she told Dylan. Without saying anything further, the security officer took the young child and grabbed him, causing Yoshi to cry as he rushed outside of the store with him and burst back through the open doorway. A couple of seconds later Patrick and Rei could hear the mother crying with relief.

"Are you alright?" he asked Rei. Rei didn't answer him but instead went towards the clerk's desk.

Lying face up next to the opening of the workspace was Mr. Chadwick. He had two visible wounds to the chest that were bleeding profusely. Now panicked after seeing the older man, Patrick looked around for anything such as clothing or towels that he could use to try and stop the bleeding. He found Mr. Chadwick's raincoat hung on the coatrack and Patrick grabbed the whole thing, wadded it up and pushed it to the man's chest.

"Okay, okay, it's gonna be okay!" he said to Mr. Chadwick, trying to reassure him. Mr. Chadwck's face was sheet white however.

"Rei, help me please," instructed Patrick but she only gently lay her hand on his and looked at him directly in the eyes. She shook her head, and Patrick immediately knew what she meant.

Mr. Chadwick tried to look up at Rei as she moved closer to his head. She reached for the back of his head with her hand and cradled it, while she kept her other hand on top of Patrick's rested on the old man's wounded chest. The old bookstore owner struggled to crane his neck to speak to Rei, his eyes wide and quivering, knowing that he was going to die. He saw Rei and spoke to her as if only recognizing her for the first time.

"It's…. it's you!" he told her in surprise. "It's you!"

"It will be alright," she told him softly.

The old man reached for her with a trembling hand but then suddenly his head went back, he shivered and then his head fell back to the floor. Patrick could see his eyes close and could hear his lungs give out with a wheeze and crackling groan. Within that single moment a life had gone.

Rei took her hand out from behind Mr. Chadwick's head and she looked up at Patrick. There was a sullenness to her.

"Someone else has again died on my account," she told him.

Patrick just put his arm and brought her close, squeezing her tight as they both knelt over Mr. Chadwick's body.

* * *

 _Hello everyone, and I hope you enjoyed this latest installment. Doing my best to keep on schedule and am working on Act Two draft even as these chapters are being posted. Should see one additional chapter up by early November and then we'll move onto Act Two. Enjoy!_


	6. Employment Opportunity

Per the standard procedure of their security team both Rei and Patrick were rapidly evacuated to a safe location, in this case Alliance Base North which was just a few miles west of Cambridge. There at the base's secure medical center both were examined by physicians and then interrogated separately about the incident by Alliance Intelligence staff, hoping to discover any clues about who had tried to abduct Rei and why.

It wasn't until a few hours later when the interrogators released Patrick and he was sent back to the base hospital. The entire facility was now crawling with armed security personnel, and Patrick saw a squad's worth of heavily armed security police on the floor where Rei was being treated. He met Rei just outside of an examination room, where she had been waiting along with Doctor Foch.

"Ah, my boy," the old scientist greeted Patrick. "I see you're safe and sound."

"Yeah," he said as he approached Rei, embracing her as he spoke to Foch. "That was a close call."

"Too close if you asked me. Anyway, they called me over to make sure she was fine, and she is at least physically healthy. So, I'll leave you too and return home. Mademoiselle Rei, please do take care!"

"I will," Rei said to the professor. "Thank you."

"You're more than welcome. _Adieu_ and good evening." With that Foch turned to exit the hospital floor.

Patrick looked down at Rei, still in his arms. "Are you okay?"

"It's not the worse thing that's ever happened to me," she replied, trying to find any humor in the situation. It was enough to make Patrick smile at her, even in these circumstances.

"Who were those people? Did you ever see them before?"

"No" she told him. Rei leaned into him more and let Patrick hold her more tightly. "But they'll try again, won't they?"

Patrick wanted to reassure her at that moment but he couldn't, but instead just held on to her, caressing her hair and keeping her feeling as warm and safe as he could. A moment later he heard their names being called down the hallway.

"PATRICK! REI!" Erin screamed as she ran towards both of them. Following her from behind was Olivia Perry, the senior Alliance agent in charge of the pilots' security. Erin collided with Patrick, squeezing him tightly, and then moved on to Rei, hugging her as she spoke. "Oh my God, are you both okay?"

"We're still here," Patrick quipped. Rei just nodded and Erin again squeezed her tight, not letting go this time. "Who were they? What did they want?"

"I don't know," said Patrick. Olivia then caught up to the group.

"Glad to see you all are still standing," she told the three of them.

"What about the others?" asked Patrick. He remembered there being at least five bodies in front of the bookstore before he entered.

Olivia gave the three of them a long stare before giving the bad news. "We lost Chie today."

Chie Tomokawa was one of the agents in Rei's own security detail, and like all the protection detail agents she was known to all the pilots. "Oh, no!" cried Erin, holding her hands to her mouth.

"One of CPD's officers also went down. Marissa made it but she's got a bullet in her spine. She's on the floor below us. They're still working on her." Erin's tears started to flow down her cheeks: while Rei and her brother had made it safely, there was still a price paid by those who protected them.

"For the bad guys it was four for four," Olivia continued. "None of them lived, but we're pretty sure there were more of them around that we didn't see, this was just too organized to be some random bunch of crazies."

"What happens now?" Patrick asked calmly.

"School's out for all three of you," Olivia told them. "You're not back on campus until we figure a way to keep you better protected."

Patrick shrugged as Erin continued to clutch Rei with both of her arms. "I guess I don't have a GPA problem anymore then," he joked, smiling until he saw Erin's face and the daggers that she stared at him. His sister wasn't quite ready for his gallows humor just yet.

"Forrestal," Olivia motioned to the boy, "someone wants to see you." She nodded her head towards the elevator bank and Patrick headed that way, followed by her.

The two got into the elevator car and rode it up to the top floor of the hospital. On the way Olivia spoke to Patrick. "I suppose you got the lecture about 'not trying to be a hero,' did you?"

"Not actually," he replied. "To be honest my brain just switched off the moment I heard those shots being fired."

"I don't think your brain switched 'off'," said Olivia, "in fact I'd say it was the reverse. Maybe you finally woke up today." The elevator doors opened and they both left the car, now walking out of doors on the roof of the hospital. There was a large helicopter pad with a white-painted Thunderbolt VTOL aircraft parked on it. Not far away, standing near the edge of the roof and watching the nightlights of the city in the eastern distance was a single man wearing a black trench coat. Patrick looked to Olivia and she simply motioned for him to go see the man.

As Patrick walked towards the man in the trench coat he saw that he had black hair with a pony tail, sported a black eye patch over his left eye, and smoked a cigarette. It didn't take long for him to determine who the mystery man was.

"Ryoji!" Patrick said in greeting. Ryoji Kaji, Director of the Alliance Intelligence Agency, and Patrick's foster father while he stayed in Japan, turned around, putting out his cigarette on the surface of the roof's ledge. "Hello, Patrick," he spoke in English.

"I didn't know you were coming. Misato didn't say anything to us!"

"I was in the new American capital this morning meeting with their people, then I got word of the attack and came as soon as I could. I'm glad to see you're okay, both of you."

"I was scared shitless," Patrick replied. "It still doesn't quite seem real yet." He paused and then asked Kaji "who the hell were those guys?"

Kaji turned back to the ledge to view the city lights and Patrick joined him as they watched the Cambridge nightlife and the old wreckage of Boston harbor beyond. "They call themselves, 'The Society to Produce Harmony and Enlightenment,' at least that's the cover name as far as we could trace it. One of them tried to break into the GeoFront a few weeks ago, looking for 'where they kept the angels.' Unfortunately, he killed himself before we could get much more out of him. But in summary, they appear to be a religious cult, and one that has a very strong interest in matters of Evangelion."

"That's not good," Patrick said.

"Which brings me to my next topic. Mari paid you a visit earlier this week."

"She made me a job offer," replied the boy. "I told her no."

"But now do you see what we're up against," Kaji told Patrick. "One thing you have to understand: this world we live in now, this is the world that EVA made. It was EVA that saved humanity, and it's EVA that now defines it. While people are free to live their lives, they can only do so if EVA is kept out of the wrong hands. And someone must protect those lives, and those secrets."

"And that's your job," Patrick told Kaji.

"And it could also be yours as well," he replied with a slight smile.

Patrick could feel that somehow, he'd been directed to this moment, by means invisible to the eye but not to the mind or soul. There wasn't any more avoiding it.

"Why me?" Patrick asked. "You've got Mari among us, she seems l enthusiastic. Apparently, she's now back in pretty good physical shape too."

"But Miss Illustrious has limitations," said Kaji. "Beyond her physical issues, which are not all resolved, there's also a matter of personality. Lusty-chan is a great asset for high-risk, high-gain operations but we need something else," he told Patrick. "Our enemies hide in the shadows. What we need is someone good at finding things that hide and assembling those things together to get a complete picture. In short, we need some who is a master at solving puzzles."

Now Patrick could see just why Kaji had such interest in him. "But I'm not the only person who could do that for you. I mean, come on, you must have people you can solve a puzzle besides me."

"Not when that puzzle involves Evangelion," replied Kaji. "There's certain knowledge about EVA that only comes from close experience with it. Having a former pilot in that role would be ideal."

Patrick scoffed, still not really thrilled about where this discussion was headed. "I still don't think I'm your guy. Did you ask Asuka?"

"I did," Kaji told him. "Apparently my charms no longer work on her, as she's quite taken up with her present company and studies. I'm really quite happy for them."

"We all are," Patrick said of her and of Shinji, now both studying music together in Germany.

"And upon looking at it Rei-chan seems to also be quite content with her life as it currently is."

"Just so long as some assholes don't go and try to mess with her again, that is!" scowled Patrick. "I swear they ever fuckin' do that again I'll…"

"You'll do what, exactly?" asked Kaji. "Pursue them to the end of the Earth?"

"Something like that."

"Good. How would you like to be paid for doing that? Because that is the job I'm offering you. Protecting her."

That evening Rei, Patrick, and Erin were all taken by helicopter from the hospital to the country home of Admiral Vinson in southern Maine. Vinson and his wife Maria were still Patrick and Erin's legal guardians and owned a home in a remote area with a spacious amount of land surrounding it. Vinson was now retired from military service but was more than welcome to host the pilots if it was needed. By the end of the day all three of the children were exhausted, physically and emotionally, and fell asleep by the fireplace inside the Vinson house, all huddled together for warmth and comfort.

On the following day over a late breakfast at the family's dinner table Patrick shared with both Rei and Erin as well as the Vinsons what Kaji had told him of the day before about who the suspects were. He also told them about Kaji's offer of employment.

"So, what does that mean?" Erin asked, visibly upset. "You're going to be some sort of secret agent?"

"Not quite," Patrick clarified, "it's more of an investigative thing and not undercover work."

"But related to the Evangelion," asked the Admiral, who himself was quite curious about what had happened.

"Yeah," confirmed Patrick. "Kaji called it a 'troubleshooter' position. I think he means it literally."

"That sounds dangerous," said Erin. "Really dangerous."

Patrick sighed. "Anyway, to do this he wants to send me to what he calls 'Camp X,' which is a training ground for espionage and counter-espionage. Kaji thinks I've got most of the skills I'd need already, on account not only of my EVA experience but also all my background from living back in Big Bear and stuff my uncle taught me. He says I'm perfect for the job."

"Camp X, huh," commented Vinson. "Camp X was a CIA and MI-6 joint training ground back in the day, up in Northern Canada. Really north, like Hudson's Bay just below the Arctic Circle."

"Cold?" Patrick asked.

"If Hell actually froze over it would look a lot like Camp X, so we used to say," Vinson told him.

"Was it dangerous?" Erin asked the admiral.

"It was. I didn't go through the camp's training myself but I was assigned once as an opposing force member during an exercise. I remember the trainees, they were worked just as hard as we had it during SEAL qualification training. A lot of guys dropped out over the program. There were even," Vinson took a sip of his coffee and then spoke again, "a couple of fatalities every year or so."

"Oh my God," Erin said under her breath. Rei didn't say anything, but simply stoically stared at Patrick as he spoke.

Vinson again turned to Patrick. "When did they want you to go out there?"

"Um, after this weekend," he replied nervously. Both Erin's and Rei's eyes widened suddenly after Patrick spoke.

"You mean _now?_ " asked Erin.

After breakfast Erin confronted Patrick in his bedroom upstairs.

"What the hell are you thinking?" she said to him, struggling to avoid shouting and attracting the attention of the others in the house.

"Beats school," Patrick replied.

"Are you _serious_?" Erin told him. "Kaji makes this sound like you're some sort of cop, but then why send you to killer spy school?"

"Because there's no secret more important than EVA," said Patrick, "and no one more important to protect than the pilots, you included."

But Erin was at her wits end, as this was not the outcome she was hoping for after earlier chastising Patrick for his lack of academic concentration. "When I asked you to get your act together and work on a subject you would do better in, I figured it would be something like history or law school. Not this!"

"You're the one who suggested that I should work on my shooting!"

"I take it all back!" cried Erin. "Patrick, come on we've done enough! We already fought in EVA once, and it took so much from us. Now you don't want to let it go!" She sat down on the bed and tried to hold back her tears but they flowed nonetheless. Patrick sat next to her.

"I'm not crazy about this but after yesterday everything changed for me," Patrick said, trying to reassure her. "Maybe I was just in denial all of this time. Maybe this is really me."

"Maybe you're more like Vance after all, then," Erin told him as she sniffled, wiping tears off her face.

"I'm not just doing this for my sake," Patrick told her. "If there's bad guys like the ones we saw yesterday _someone's_ gotta take care of them, so that the rest of us can have a life worth living. So why not me?" Erin wasn't moved by Patrick's admission however, and put her head in her hands in despair.

"Hey," he spoke to her softly, gently taking her hand into his. "We're still a team, but I can't just plod along knowing what's out there and what I'm capable of doing about it. Am I scared of this? Hell, yes, I'm terrified. But at the same time, I feel this funny sort of confidence. The stars have sort of lined all of this up and I have to at least take this chance." Erin didn't say anything in return but kept sniffling as the tears rolled on.

"I don't want to lose you," she confessed. "I've lost everyone else that mattered to me except you."

"I know."

"If something happened to you then I," she stammered, "I don't know what I'd do."

"Don't worry," he told her, taking her in his arms and letting her cry on his shoulder. "Everything will be OK. Everything will be better than OK."

As the sun set Patrick stepped out of the house and onto the wooden boat dock. He had avoided speaking to Rei for most of the day, excusing it by spending time with Erin, but he also had just wanted to be alone with her outside far from the others. So, as the sky became a mixture of orange and yellow Patrick walked out to the boat dock where Rei was standing at the very edge by the water. He approached her silently, she was dressed in a sweater and blue jeans borrowed from Erin, with a fleece blanket wrapped around her in the cool dusk.

"Hey," he said as he came up to her. Rei glanced at him and then continued to watch the sun slowly set above the tree line that lined the lake.

"How is Forri-chan?" asked Rei.

"She didn't take it well. She's scared, both that I won't come back alive, or that I'll turn into some sort of ruthless killer like Vance."

"It's natural she'd think that way."

"What do _you_ think?"

Rei looked up at him. "It's very suitable for you. Like _Oni-chan_ playing cello."

"So, you're not scared that something's going to happen to me?" he asked. Rei turned to face him.

"Do you remember when we discussed my fertility therapy, when we first came to America?"

"Of course."

"I told you then that there was a risk in modifying this body. If something was not done properly, or if some unknown factor came into account, there was a chance that I might die. Do you remember?"

Patrick nodded. "I did, and I told you back then that I couldn't be selfish and just ask you to hold back. Instead this was part of you, that desire to become a mother and have kids on your own, but to do that and become yourself, the real you, you had to risk it all. And I supported that."

"Then the same is true for you," she told him. "For me to have you, the real Forri-kun, I need to let you take your own risks. It's true you might die as well, but if I try to hang onto you then you will not grow, and you will not be Forri-kun but something else in the end, something worse. And I do not want that."

"Thank you," Patrick told her, somewhat surprised by Rei's expression of confidence in him. "I'm actually not even sure this is completely right but after yesterday that whole thing keeps going through my mind. Seeing those guys and seeing you there and knowing I couldn't let them hurt you. I have to do this."

Rei moved closer to him and put her hand on Patrick's chest. "Then do what you need to," she told him, looking up into his eyes, "but I will miss you. Very much." Patrick took her into his arms and held her tight. "I'll be back before you know it."

The trio spent the rest of the weekend at the Vinson's lake house, avoiding the topic of Patrick's departure and instead trying to enjoy their company as much as they could. The three of them spent time wondering the woods and walking along the lake and reminiscing about the past. The Admiral's wife Maria also did her best to keep everyone's spirits up with her glorious cooking and her cheerfulness, making sure all her charges were well fed and wanting for nothing. Together Patrick and the girls spent wonderful nights on that weekend under the deep blue sky, watching shooting stars fly in the far distance above as they lay on blankets around a crackling fire.

Monday morning then came and Patrick had intended to get up early and try and slip away so he didn't disturb either Rei or Erin, but he awoke to find both already dressed in outdoor coats and waiting for him downstairs along with Mrs. Vinson. Rei had already packed a small backpack for him and presented it to him as he reached the front door. Patrick himself wore a set of training windbreakers along with a leather jacket and runners. Apart from the backpack he didn't have any luggage, as the training center informed him he wouldn't be needing any.

The front door opened and Admiral Vinson came inside. "They sent a car for you," he told Patrick. "They're waiting out front."

"Can you tell them I'll be just a moment?" asked Patrick.

"Sure," said the Admiral and he went back outside.

 _Who to start with first? It's always a dilemma_. Patrick approached Erin, who promptly threw her arms around him and squeezed as hard as she could. They spent a few moments there together, not saying anything as Rei watched, then Erin took her hands and caressed Patrick's face.

"Don't you _dare_ not come back! Do you hear me?" Erin told him with determination. "Don't you dare!"  
"Yeah, I got it."

Erin nodded, and then kissed Patrick gently on the lips. "That's for good luck." Patrick hugged her again, and then moved onto Rei.

"I'm really going to miss not seeing you off at night," he told her.

"This this will keep you warm," Rei replied, and reached up on her toes and gave Patrick a deep, lingering kiss. The couple took their time, knowing it would be the last time in a while they were together.

Patrick looked at Rei as she held his hands. "Take care of yourself," she told him.

"I most certainly will. With you as my guardian Angel there's no way I can lose." He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Oh," she realized there was one more thing she wanted to say to Patrick. Rei got up on her toes and whispered into his ear as Erin watched. To Erin, Rei said something that was surprising to Patrick.

"Really?" he asked her, and Rei nodded.

"Well," Patrick smirked, "then I might have something to really look forward to when I get back home." They kissed again, this time not as deep but simply slow and gentle as two now old friends who had shared so much together. Finally Patrick embraced Maria.

"Thanks for everything, _Mi Madre_ ," he said to her softly.

" _Via Con Dios_ ," was Mrs. Vinson's reply to him as she held him tightly for a moment. "Be careful, my boy." Patrick finally let go and looked back at the three of them. "I'm off then."

"Bye," said Erin as she waived. Patrick sought to open the door but instead realized there was one more thing he needed to say to the two girls.

"Hey, both of you," he told them. "You don't have me to kick around for a while, but whatever happens the two of you please stick together."

Erin looked at Rei and put her arm around her, and Rei herself looked up at Erin and nodded, giving her a small smile. "We will," Erin assured Patrick.

"Then I'll see you next February. Bye, kids!" Patrick then opened the front door and left the house, with Rei and Erin following him outside.

Just before he got in the black-painted sedan, Patrick approached Admiral Vinson. "Good luck, son," said the Admiral as he shook his hand firmly. "Thank you," said Patrick. "Well, here goes." He slung his backpack onto his shoulder and then went to the waiting car. A man dressed in a black suit took Patrick's shoulder bag and then opened the rear door and to Patrick inside. The door closed, but not before Patrick could give Rei and Erin a final waive. Erin waived back, trying to be enthusiastic and cheerful while Rei stoically watched with her. The driver placed Patrick's bag in the trunk and then himself got inside and drove off, down the highway and out of sight.

As the car left, Erin finally let herself cry. Without turning to Rei, she said to her "Why are we so sad? It isn't like the worst thing that's ever happened to us!"

"No," Rei told her, "but he's part of us, and we will miss him all the same."

END OF ACT ONE

* * *

 _A little later than I planned it but here's the latest chapter. Now we see the stage set for the rest of the story, and will do a slight time jump in the next installment. I'd guess we're probably about 20% done out of a 25 chapter novel at this stage._

 _The next act will still take place mostly in Cambridge, but we'll start to bring in other events as well. Keep in mind that the Jet Alone "escape" in the prologue happens in February, some months in the future from this chapter, so there's still some time to come before catching up._

 _In the meanwhile I'm going on the Rough Draft for Act Two, and expect another month or so of massaging and editing and re-writing until it's ready for publication, probably right before Christmas if my writing schedule doesn't get too disrupted. Last month we were on the road a good chunck of the time, and while Oregon is nice I wasn't able to play novelist much while I was away._

 _So please enjoy this and know that it's just the start of something bigger. You all know that I like to build up the drama in these stories, so I would expect to see more action soon but not too soon. In the meantime please keep checking out the Blue Rose Facebook page for further updates and images and whatever I can post. Thanks!_


	7. Windy Winter

**_January_**

Erin Forrestal breathed in the cold winter air as she walked towards the student center at The New Institute. It was the first time she had been on campus since the kidnapping attempt on Rei, and while she was glad to get back to her education Erin still felt great apprehension upon returning to the school.

With the new semester there had been a few changes, the biggest one being that Erin's other half, her twin brother Patrick, was now far north at Camp X being trained by the Alliance Intelligence Service. Because trainees at the camp were held incommunicado, Erin had heard nothing directly from Patrick since the day he left, and if even all went well it would be that way until February when he was scheduled to return.

None of the former pilots had needed to complete their schoolwork for the remaining part of last semester as Chancellor Gallatner was surprisingly understanding regarding the circumstances and permitted Erin and Rei a free pass for the semester, holding their GPA at their last confirmed status and allowing them to skip their final exams. Patrick was also allowed a "drop" without penalty, which meant that he was technically still enrolled at TNI but not registered for any classes. His entire first semester record was also expunged, something that Erin knew Patrick would have been happy to find out.

As a result the two girls had all of December free to themselves and Rei spent another week at the Vinson home in Maine, then returned to Japan for the holidays. Rei invited Erin to come to Japan with her but she declined, wanting to spend more time with the Vinsons. But then Mari showed up at the Maine house on Christmas Eve, all dressed in Red and White furs like a sexy Santa Claus, and Erin was promptly whisked away for a ten-day holiday to London-2 and Europe in her company. The sudden vacation had done much for lifting her spirits, allowing for actual unbridled fun along with Lusty as they partied with abandon, visited Mari's social friends in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, and travelled around the region. Through her connections Mari had also kept tabs on Patrick's status at Camp X and informed Erin that he was "miserable but healthy." Erin was satisfied at the answer.

Now in the first few days of January Erin had returned to TNI. The weather had changed to biting cold winds and visible snow on the ground, and trees were laid bare of their leaves save the firs. Because of the security situation involving the pilots Erin had not permitted to contact Diego since being whisked away from Cambridge following the attempt on Rei at the bookstore. She knew Diego was being investigated by the Alliance security team, as they wanted to know more about the perpetrators and were checking any lead, but she didn't know how she could explain any of this to him once she saw him again on campus.

Erin had also not heard from Rei at all past Christmas Eve and had wondered if she was even returning to TNI. Given her status at the target of the prior attack, it wouldn't be surprising at all to her if Rei had decided to remain in Japan or if others had instead decided for her. So in the end Erin expected this new semester to be a rather lonely one.

Reaching the student center, Erin entered through the double glass doors. Following her inside at a discreet distance were two bodyguards in dark suits and winter coats, as the security presence around her was now doubled in response to the still-unknown threat. She paid them no mind and walked inside the center until she reached the coffee and tea shop.

Ordering a hot latte from the counter, Erin found a booth and unbundled herself. She had on a tan winter coat with a heavy scarf wrapped around her neck and she promptly took both off, revealing a brightly colored orange, green, and white pattered heavy sweater and a black skirt with grey tights and dress boots. Her books and laptop were in a backpack that she laid down on the booth bench, and she then took a seat for herself and sipped her coffee while she pulled out her mobile phone and started to check messages and mail. There were several texts from classmates met in the last semester, asking if she had returned, and there were nearly a half a dozen messages from a new phone line she didn't immediately recognize.

Erin checked the new message source and found a Cambridge-area mobile number it was connected to. She read the first message.

 _6023534443: Darling if you can read this please answer me back. I have a new number now and wanted to touch back with you as I have heard nothing in weeks. I hope that I have not done something wrong. D._

 _D._ She knew it was Diego. It wasn't the first time he had tried to contact her after she suddenly left either, but until she received an "all clear" from her security she wasn't allowed to reply to him, and Alliance Intel was either taking their time or had perhaps found something suspicious. Erin was frustrated and knew she had to be patient, but felt that another chance for happiness may have been interfered with by EVA yet again, even if very indirectly.

As she sat at the booth and read her phone a boy came up to her. "Excuse me?" Erin looked up to see the boy Rei had earlier called Zummy-kun. Looking excessively bundled up in coats, sweaters, and scarfs she could barely see his face beyond his glasses.

"Are you… _Forri-chan_?"

"I'm Erin," she introduced herself.

"Ah!" Zummy realized and then started to unwrap himself from his winter clothes. "I wasn't sure of your actual name. I only remember Reiko calling you that."

"It's okay," she told him with a smile. "She called you _Zummy_."

"It's David. David Zumwalt." The pair shook hands and then the boy sat down opposite Erin at the booth. "Did you get back today?"

"Yup. It's my first day back on campus."

"Cool. Have you heard from her at all? I mean Reiko."

"No, actually," said Erin. "Last I heard from her was during Christmas, but she went back to Japan."

"Is she coming back?"

"I have no idea. She hasn't tried to contact me at all. Now that I'm back I think I'll check on her place and see if she's returned or not."

David pulled out his own bookbag and then set a book on the table. "I took her advice and started reading this term's textbooks during holiday. I'm hoping that it goes better that way."

"To be fair," Erin told David, "She reads scientific papers in her idle spare time, so she's more used to it than anyone I know. My brother had to give her jokebooks in order to help her branch out her reading a bit more."

"Well, I read a bunch during break so I'm super-prepared at least. How about you?"

"I had waaaay too much fun this holiday," Erin told him. "Now I got to get back to speed but at least I'll be distraction-free this semester."

"Are you a CIS major?" Asked Zummy, CIS standing for Computer and Information Science.

"Yup! How did you know?"

"You have a security badge," David observed. Erin pulled out the lanyard with her ID card on it.

"Oh, my work study is at the main computer center."

This somehow made Zummy quite interested. "Do you get to work with the _MAGI?_ " he asked with sudden excitement.

 _How much should I tell him?_ "Actually, I just do data entry," Erin said, not wanting to tell someone who she was still unacquainted with more than they needed to know, and Erin did _much_ more at the campus computer center than data entry.

"Oh, too bad. But at least you interact with them. That's cool!"

She was surprised at Zummy's interest. "Really? They're just computers."

" _Just_ computers? The MAGI are the world's most sophisticated artificial intelligence! I would die just to get to access one of them."

Erin decided to play along. "What would you ask them if you got the chance?"

"I'd ask, 'how does the Evangelion actually work?' It's a big mystery you know."

"Are you interested in that sort of thing?" Erin asked David, now wondering about his earlier motivations in getting to know Rei.

"Oh, yeah!" replied Zummy with excitement. "I did my high school senior project on Evangelion. Got it published in the local news, in fact! That's part of why I'm here at New Institute."

"To study Evangelion?"

"Well, it's Robotics actually. That's my major. But that's the point, I've read everything I can on it but nothing about the Evangelion makes sense as far as being a robot goes."

Erin was now increasingly suspicious of the boy, but knew she needed to know more before jumping to a conclusion. To her, Zummy didn't seem like someone who'd want to harm anyone. "Well, I'm sure they keep a lot of secrets about those things," she told him, still playing along.

"I know. I mean, there's a whole lot that's still classified about them, and there's not nearly any information about everything that happened _after_ Tokyo-3 was attacked. But they're not robots! There's no way that they can be! Just the way that they're built doesn't make sense if they're mostly mechanical."

"But aren't they _biomechanical_?" Erin teased, trying to see how much the boy knew.

"Biomechanical is a very vague term. I'd say that they're probably not mechanical at all! But then what are they?"

"Maybe if you're really interested in EVA you've got the wrong major," Erin quipped, and then prepared her backpack so that she could leave. "Anyway, I've got my first class. Hey," she told him with a friendly smile as she stood up. "If I hear from Reiko, I'll definitely let her know you were looking for her."

"Yeah, thanks. We missed her at the front row in math last semester. But I heard about that shooting and figured maybe she got scared and left."

"Well, _Reiko_ doesn't scare easily, I'll say that for her," Erin told him. "See you around, sport!" She then put on her coat and her scarf and left the café.

 _I don't think he's much of a threat_ , Erin concluded to herself. _Just another fanboy who doesn't know anything._

* * *

Still concerned about Rei, after her classes Erin decided to go visit Doctor Foch at his home in the faculty residence area. Rei's loft was in Foch's back yard, and Erin figured that as they worked closely together Foch might be the best person to ask about Rei's current whereabouts. She knew she could have called either Rei or Misato back in Japan but didn't want to do that just yet, as Rei might want her privacy and Erin didn't want to have Misato over-react.

Around five-thirty in the afternoon Erin arrived at the Foch house, a New England colonial style wooden two-story home pained white with a red roof. She knocked on the door and it opened within a few seconds, as Foch himself came to see who the visitor was.

"Hi, Uncle Bernard," Erin said in greeting.  
" _Bon jour_ , Mademoiselle Erin," Foch replied, pleased to see her. " _Entre-vous_ , _s'il vous plait_ _ **.**_ "

Erin promptly entered the house and took off her coat, scarf and boots. The house itself was toasty warm and smelt of cinnamon and tea, with a wood fire already crackling in the fireplace. She took a deep breath and let it out slow, enjoying the scents of the place. "Nice and warm in here!" she cheerfully commented.

"Ah, yes! Well these New England winters do chill things a bit so there's nothing like a warm hearth to come home to. _Madame?_ " Foch called out to the kitchen.

"Yes, Bernard?" a voice called out.

"Little Erin is here, can you get her something to eat and drink?"

"But of course!" Within a minute as Erin waited Bernard's former laboratory assistant and now wife Beatrix came in the living room, holding a tray with a pot of warm tea and a small pile of cookies on a plate. Beatrix sat the tray down on a coffee table and Erin promptly plopped down on the adjoining couch as Foch found his easy chair next to the fireplace. There were three teacups for the tea on the tray, and Beatrix gently poured all three as Erin snagged a couple of the cookies.

"So, my dear," Foch asked Erin. "You're here for the new term."

"I just got back last night," Erin told him. "And…" she quickly munched on another cookie and then grabbed a fourth one as she continued. "I wuff wobering," she said as she chewed while she spoke, "God I juff wuv these cookies…if you'd herrd fwrom Rei at awl." She struggled to swallow while continuing to speak, then gave up and took a good swig of her tea to wash them down.

"I'm here," a voice came from above. Erin looked towards the staircase and was startled to see Rei start to walk down towards the living room. She was wearing a bathrobe over blue-tinted pajamas, her blue hair was down and all over her shoulders. Erin immediately got up off the couch and went to her.

"Rei!" she said, hugging her once she made it down the stairs. "Where were you? I tried to call you!"

"I know," Rei replied, sounding tired. Erin realized that not everything was quite all right with her. "What happened to you?"

"I had an operation," Rei said to her. This was a surprise to Erin, who turned to Foch as Rei and her both found places on the couch.

"Is this about the fertility thing?" Erin asked.

"It is," Foch confirmed. "After some additional experiments we decided that the genetic material from Unit 01 could provide suitable donor tissue and I asked Rei to return here right after Christmas for the insertion. She's been in recovery since then, so I have her at the house so I can more carefully keep an eye on her."

Hearing all of that made Erin even more concerned. "Are you feeling okay now?" she asked Rei.

"I feel fine, but weak at times," Rei told her. "I will be able to start school again."

"She'll have to restrain physical activity for a month or so until she's fully recovered," Foch added, "and it will take a couple of months for her body to completely adjust, but if all goes well she should have a functioning ovary."

"Well that sounds good," Erin said. "I wonder how your kids will turn out, don't you?"

Rei nodded, smiling a little. Despite the comfortability she was happy with the procedure and what she hoped would be the eventual result. "It is bearing through a little discomfort," she replied to Erin. "For the moment I cannot resume dance, or go swimming for that matter."

"Oh, no!" Erin exclaimed at first. "Well, I guess this is worth giving up a few things." The two girls sat down on the couch as Foch himself went back to the kitchen with the teapot to get more tea for himself.

"Have you heard from Forri-kun?" Rei asked Erin in a soft tone, her expression becoming more serious.

"No," Erin replied. "Mari's in touch with people she knows at Camp X, she's heard that he's doing alright so far. She also says the training will get more tough as they go, so it might be really hard for Bro in the next few weeks. They're still not allowed to send out messages or receive them so there's no way to really reach him right now."

"I see," said Rei, appearing sad at the news. Erin patted her on the shoulder.

"He'll be alright, Patrick always seems to have a way to get through sticky situations like this." Rei didn't say anything in reply, but instead just stared into space, and Erin herself knew that loneliness all too well.

* * *

After having dinner with the Fochs and Rei, Erin left around 8 o'clock and started back for her apartment. It was much colder now outside, and she wrapped her scarf around her neck tightly to keep warm and brace against the chilling winter winds. About half-way the distance to her apartment Erin's mobile phone buzzed and she picked up. On the other end was Olivia Perry, the senior agent in charge of the pilot security detail. "Hey ya, kid!"

"Hi, Olivia," Erin replied.

"So how was merry old England?"

"Had a great time, almost forgot about this place."

"Good." Olivia then got to the matter at hand. "Just so you know, we finally cleared your Casanova. Nothing to do with the kidnap attempt on Rei or with anything else bad."

"Finally. Why did it take so long?"

"As you know, most of Latin America is sort of a mess even now and Senior Diego grew up in a pretty bad place." Erin knew that well, as Diego had told her about his rough childhood on the streets of Peru, one of the few spots south of the equator to survive Second Impact somewhat intact.

"Anyway, he had membership in a street gang for several years in his teens, and while Peruvian courts dismiss all of that when you turn eighteen, we still want to know what he was doing. Some of those Peruvian gangs have ties to Japan, given that there's a sizeable minority of ethnic Japanese who still live there. So we had to do a deeper dig to confirm his whole background. The short of it is that he's clean, clean enough that we don't worry about him."

"Well that's a relief, thank you."

The agent was apologetic. "I'd thought you might like to know as soon as we got the green light. I know sometimes we get in the way of your personal affairs, but we're just trying to keep you safe."

"I know. I just hope that one day he'll understand."

"You might want to explain it to him yourself," said Olivia. "He's standing in front of your front door right now."

"He's _there_?"

"He's been there for about six hours."

"Oh my God! I'd better go. Thanks, Olivia!"

"Don't mention it." Erin then hung up the line and then ran as fast as she could to her apartment.

From the grounds below Erin could see Diego standing in front of her front door just as Olivia said, wrapped up in a winter coat but looking frigid and frozen over. She rushed up the stairs and made it up five flights, herself panting for breath as she ran over to meet him by the door.

"Erin!" he called out loud upon seeing her.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were waiting so long for me to come home! You must have frozen nearly to death! " Erin reached for her key and opened the front door, grabbing Diego by the arm and pulling him inside.

Fortunately the apartment's heater worked quickly to warm up the space, and Erin sat the freezing Diego on the couch as she unbundled herself from her coat and scarf and went to the kitchen to make something warm. Within a few minutes he had a couple cups of black coffee ready that she brought back to the boy on the couch, who was finally showing some pink color in his nearly frozen face.

"Here's something to warm you up," she offered Diego the cup and he gladly accepted it. Erin then took her own cup and curled up on the couch a foot away from him. She was unsure how things would go, as she had not been permitted to contact him for nearly two months. But Diego simply sipped the cup of hot coffee and let himself get warm, and she sipped her own cup and watched.

Within a few minutes Diego managed to get back to normal, finishing his coffee. "That was very good, darling," he told Erin in his accented English. "I'm glad you finally made it back, otherwise I would have been a popsicle outside your door, yeah?"

"It's really good to finally see you again," she replied. There was a long pause between the two of them, with Erin knowing she had to at least try and explain her silence of the last two months. But how much of the truth could she or should she tell him. "Diego, I…."

"You are a very interesting girl," Diego interrupted. "And certainly very well protected."

"I really don't think about it too much."

"Imagine my surprise when suddenly last November I find myself in an interrogation room, surrounded by dangerous looking people who all want to know about my past. I thought I could leave it behind by coming here," he told her. "But I guess not."

"Oh, Diego," said Erin. "It's not what you think at all. None of this is about you."

"You could not return my phone calls at least?"

"I wanted to, but I wasn't permitted to."

"By who? Your parents?"

"Not my parents," Erin told him. "But something more important."

"Your brother?"

Erin laughed a little. "Definitely not Patrick. No, I," Erin paused a bit, still trying to figure out how to say what she needed to, then knew there was only one way to do it. She had to decide now, did she like this boy enough to go all-in? Erin looked at Diego, at the tall, muscular boy with the dark curled hair and dark eyes, and charm oozing out of every place, and knew she liked what she saw despite his sometimes "suck-uppiness" and how he often tried to over-do the Don Juan romantic approach. She could forgive him for that as she could forgive him for a lot of things. And one of the things she liked most about Diego was that he had absolutely, positively nothing to do with EVA at all. No, she knew she had to decide if this was time to fish or cut bait, and with Diego after tonight she'd never get another chance. Erin wanted to be happy and she knew it would be risky, but she decided to dive right in.

"Actually, I've got a story to tell you, Diego, and it's not a nice one. Can you hear me out?"

Diego looked just a little impatient, he had already been through a lot for this girl and hoped this would at least be worth the suffering. "Alright," he said more quietly.

"Let me start with this. Those people who asked you questions, and who kept you in interrogation, and who also asked me to keep my distance, at least for a while. Those people are from Alliance Intelligence."

"Oh, really? Not the regular police?"

"No."

"Are you related to someone important, perhaps?"

Erin sighed. "Um, no. It's not my relationship with anyone. Rather It's me that they're protecting. I'm sort of in a very exclusive club." She wondered how to start explaining and then realized she had one way that might be convincing. "Here, let me show you something." Erin left Diego on the couch and went to her bedroom, coming back a minute later with something in her hands. She showed it to Diego.

"How much do you know about Evangelion?"

The remark surprised Diego considerably. "Well, I know as much as everyone else does I suppose. I know the story we all learned from the news about giant robots and 'angels' and the battles that saved the Earth."

"And you know who the pilots of those…" Erin cleared her throat, "'robots' were, right?"

"They were children, from Japan. Teenagers."

"Right, and you also know that what you heard in the news is only part of what actually happened, right?"

"There have been lots of other things going on around the world, with the military and such, yes I know some of these. But what does any of that have do you with you?"

"Here," Erin showed Diego what was in her hand. "This is an actual, genuine, A10 neural receptor, only used by Evangelion pilots." Erin handed the orange and black-colored headset to the boy. "This one belongs to me."

Diego took the A10 and held in in his hand, feeling the weight. He looked skeptically at her. "You are saying this is yours? That this is real?"

"Yeah. That's what I'm saying."

The boy sat back, only now truly realizing the gravity of what Erin was trying to tell him. "if you had told me this, say, last October when we first started going together, I would have though this something of a joke, or perhaps a Halloween costume idea. But those people who took me aside were quite real. And this is too."

"Yeah."

"Why did you not tell me this before?"

"We're not supposed to," explained Erin. "I mean we're not even enrolled in school under our real names! We're supposed to keep our background secret. And really, I'd rather just move away from all of that stuff that happened to me." Erin moved closer to him, reaching out to Diego with her hand. "That's why I liked you, because I felt like you could take me away from all of that. I didn't want to think about what happened to me, I just wanted to think about what could happen to me. And I liked the way you made me feel."

"This is quite amazing, my dear," Diego told her. "I always knew you were something very special, but even this is…quite incredible."

"I know, and now I've burdened you with this too," Erin responded. "So, if this is too much for you, I'd understand."

"Quite the opposite," Diego said to her, now feeling his full confidence. "If this is you, the _real_ you, then I want to stand by you even more now. Now I see why I was so attracted to you, that you had this mystery that you were holding back. It makes me even desire you more now!"

"That's great that you think that way," said Erin, "but it's not really something I'm all that proud of. A lot of really bad things happened to me, to Patrick and to a lot of people I knew. If I tell you the full story one day you really will be shocked."

"But I love you because you are _you_ ," Diego told her, "not because you are…. _piloto_ or whatever. Do you think we can have a relationship between just two people? If you want to forget the past, then let's forget it! Can we do that?"

"I wish it were so simple," Erin told him, "But just like last November, and what happened to Rei at the bookstore, sometimes it just comes back when don't want it to. That's why there's bodyguards, and fake names, and all that other stuff."

Diego came up close to her, taking both of his hands and putting them on her cheeks, gently caressing them as he spoke. "Then at least let me be your shelter. If you are worried about the past, come to me and I will protect you from it. "

Erin leaned on Diego and let him hold her tight. She wanted his warmth, she wanted to feel normal, and not to be alone.

"I'm sorry I left you in the cold like that," she said to him softly. "I guess that must have hurt."

"I will admit I was quite distressed, not knowing if I had perhaps done something very wrong, or if you had found out about my own sordid past," Diego replied.

"Well, I figure if you're willing to wait outside my door in the freezing cold for six hours then…"

"I'm willing to do more than that to take care of you," Diego said. Erin looked up at him and saw his smile, and knew that was all she needed right now, and at that moment the two of them shared a long, slow kiss as he held her in his arms.

"Thank you for putting up with me this time," Erin said, giving him a smile. Diego relaxed his grip and picked up the A10 headband again. "May I ask you a favor, darling?"

"Of course!"

"May I keep this?" he said, showing her the A10s. "I would like the memory of this moment with you."

Erin didn't see any reason for him not to have it. "I'm not using it anymore anyway, so sure. You can have it. Just don't show it around or anything, now that you know my secret you gotta help me keep it."

"It, and you, will be safe with me." Erin smiled at him again and put her arms around his neck, and she then let Diego passionately kiss her on the couch for the rest of the night.

* * *

 ** _Headquarters, Alliance of Free Nations Intelligence Service (AIS)_**

 ** _Outskirts of the ruins of Tokyo-3, Japan._**

Ryoji Kaji entered the seventh floor of the AIS building from the elevator bank and was greeted by a lone receptionist sitting at a semi-circle desk, a pretty young Japanese woman with a neat professional appearance.

"Good morning, Director," she greeted him as he entered the office.

"Good morning, Eriko-chan," Kaji replied with a wink. "How are things going today?"

"Seems quiet, sir," she told him honestly.

"Let's hope it stays that way." He then passed her and went through a set of glass doors behind her desk.

Kaji entered the operations center of the Alliance Intelligence Service, a room filled with the desks of agent controllers and operators who read surveillance and message feeds from AIS' many intelligence assets as well as those from military units and allied nations and organizations. As he walked through, he was greeted by many in the room, but in a very brief but still respectful way. When setting up the AIS along his own ideas of how an intelligence agency should work, Kaji did not want a working atmosphere that was too chokingly formal, and this showed in the operations "pit" as it was often called, as officers and others wore business casual attire, often with shirts and jackets without neckties. Under Kaji's own guidelines there wasn't going be any bowing, or pecking orders, or tea served to the male staff by the female staff at three o'clock or any of other corporate bullshit so prevalent in Japan and much of the Western world before Second Impact. He wanted the best for his people and he wanted them focused on what they were there for: to keep the new world order safe and especially to prevent another Impact of any kind.

Still moving with a slight limp, a residual of his nearly life-ending injuries during the Alliance assault on SEELE's mountain compound years before, Kaji walked through the Pit checking on various officers and getting quick briefs on anything that they found interesting during the previous day. He preferred to get summaries from the officers directly, and not via a briefing, as he didn't want to miss anything important, and wanted officers in the pit to feel like they could speak more freely on anything they encountered.

After satisfying himself that the Pit staff had informed him to their best knowledge, Kaji then moved to his own office at the far end of the floor. The office was large without being cavernous, and consisted of two sections, one for his secretary and one for himself separated by a wall with a security door.

Upon entering his office, his secretary Satsuki Ooi looked up from her desk and greeted him. "Good morning, Director." Ooi was a former NERV officer who once worked as a second-string controller, and while there was known for both her glamourous looks given her long, luxurious light brown hair and feminine figure as well as having unflapping coolness even in the direst of times. Kaji prized both assets and had hired her as one of the first to work at AIS.

"Good morning, Satsuki-chan," Kaji said.

"Did you make the rounds already?"

"I did. Apart from the usual trouble in Venezuela and the Kyber Union it seems fairly calm from the regional feeds. Are my appointments here?"

"I'll send them in once you're settled in. Oh, and your wife called."

Kaji raised an eyebrow. "Funny she calls you instead of me."

"She said it was just a reminder that you're having dinner with the Hyugas tonight and no excuses for being late will be tolerated."

"Then please help me to keep on schedule. Anything else from her?"

"Yes, she said for me to also remind you to give me a promotion sooner rather than later and then place a much less attractive secretary in my place," said Ooi in complete mock seriousness. "That is if you want to be sure you won't be sleeping on the couch starting next month." Kaji laughed with a hearty tone, as Satsuki and Misato got along quite well.

"Well, we'll have to see about that. Thank you, I'll just need a few minutes and you can send them right in along with AD Stephenson." He then walked through his own office door and made his way to his desk.

Kaji kept his office as organized as he could manage, as he often held small meetings here throughout the day and it was a daily challenge for Ooi to reduce his clutter given his own habit of smoking and drinking several iced canned coffees while going over reports or presentations. He had a relatively modest desk that faced a small conference table and several chairs, a large LED video screen mounted on one wall, and on another wall an illustration that was Kaji's one and only splurge on his interior decorating: a twelve-foot wide reproduction of Aoki Toshi's "Shoki and Demons." The painting on first inspection appeared as a crowded mess of hundreds of demons surrounding Shoki, the legendary King of Ghosts, originally painted in the late 19th century. The tale of Shoki was an old one, originating from China of a man who scored highest in the examination for the imperial officials, but was still rejected due to his ugly looks. Despondent, Shoki committed suicide but when arriving in hell the gods saw his intellect and drive and assigned him the job of hunting down all of the malevolent ghosts haunting the world. It was a story Kaji knew well, and he at times saw himself as Shoki, resurrected from the dead and now hunting the ghosts of the old world to protect the new one.

Ooi's voice came out of his phone's speaker. "The first one's here, sir."

"Please send him in."

Kaji walked over to a credenza and took out a cold pitcher of iced tea, setting aside two cups from a cabinet. Normally Ooi would perform the task but Kaji was meeting an old friend today and wanted the service to be personal. There was a knock on the door and he turned towards it.

"Well, well," the man said to Kaji, "aren't you the Emperor now?"

"Koji!" Kaji exclaimed, extending his hand to him. "It's been a long time!"

Koji Takao took Kaji's hand and shook it strongly. He was about Kaji's age, but larger and more muscular, and with a head that was shaved bald and a face with a neatly trimmed beard. "Heard that you made it out on top. I guess the cat really had nine lives after all."

"Perhaps not nine but I'm grateful for second chances, as well as third and fourth ones." Kaji handed him the tea and motioned for him to sit in one of the chairs, while Kaji sat in another. Koji sipped the tea and let out a refreshed "aahh" after drinking it.

"You know, you really should replace that with whiskey working in a place like this."

"My wife is concerned that I'm starting to feel my age a bit," Kaji quipped in reply.  
"That's right, I heard you're married now. Who's the lucky girl?"

"Katsuragi, of course."

"She finally let you catch her," Koji mused. "Must have been some promise."

"Memorable," Kaji replied, taking a sip of his own tea.  
"So, you got me here now. What's this all about?"

"I'd like you to meet someone. We have a project that requires, let's say, a delicate yet firm touch with a big heaping of discretion. I'd rather not work within the regular channels and I heard that you were doing some 'contracting' as it were."

"If you want to call being a Private Eye a 'contractor' I suppose that's true. After the UN collapsed, there were a whole lot of pissed off people wanting their day in court and that's keep me fairly busy chasing down criminals."

The phone speaker buzzed again and Ooi's voice came on. "She's here, director, and AD Stephenson's on his way."

"Thank you, please show her inside and once Stephenson's here close my door. No interruptions, please."

"Will do," responded Ooi.

Through the office door walked in Mari Illustrious. She wore a soft pink long-sleeved cashmere sweater and a long patterned silk skirt with high leather boots, her hair was worn long behind her. "Good morning, sir!" she cheerfully greeted Kaji.

"Good morning, Lusty. Did you just arrive in Japan?"

"I made a stop at the hospital in Shokaku. They did some 'adjustments' and then gave me a clean bill of health and sent me on my way." Kaji directed her attention to the other man in the room as Assistant Director Stephenson, a British man in his mid-fifties with firm looks and a pinstriped business suit entered. Unlike nearly everyone else at the top floor of AIS Stephenson wore a necktie and kept his appearance formal and dapper.

"Everyone this is Koji Takao, an old friend from my schooling days." Stephenson only gave Takao a cursory nod, while Mari was much more interested in him. "Hello, there!" She offered him her and he shook it gently.

"Hello, Miss…"

"Illustrious. Mari Illustrious Makinami." Koji looked at Kaji curiously. "How old is she?" he asked him.

"Mari's a former Evangelion pilot," Kaji informed him, and with that Koji was surprised to silence.

"Shall we all begin?" Stephenson interrupted, and the rest of the group took their seats. Ooi then shut the door closed from the outside.

"Director," the AD motioned to Kaji to start the discussion.

"Nearly two months ago," Kaji started, directing his attention to Mari and Koji, "there was an attempt to kidnap the First Child while she attended university in America. Her security detail was able, with some outside assistance, to prevent the attempt but at the cost of several lives. Unfortunately of the four assailants none of them survived. We were however able to make forensic connections between that group and two earlier attempts to infiltrate the NERV laboratories at Tokyo-3's Geofront. They were in turn linked to a religious society based in Totori prefecture. The Japanese interior ministry raided their offices but found little to identify any type of motive behind the recent actions of what appeared to be a few of the society's members acting on their own."

"However, the attack on the First Child was highly coordinated, and done with considerable skill. It nearly succeeded, and we believe that we will likely see another attempt against her or perhaps some of the other EVA pilots now living in the outside world."

"What do they want with her?" Koji asked. Kaji then looked to Stevenson to explain further.

"We're not entirely sure, except that she seems to represent to them some sort of figure of reverence. The society they came from is nominally a Shinto cult but this sort of action is quite outside the norm for such groups. We're thinking that this could be a front for something more sinister."

Kaji then continued. "Needless to say given our mission this matter is our highest priority, and after nearly two months we don't have any particularly strong leads. What I'd like the two of you to do," the director looked at his two guests, "is to conduct your own investigation with fresh eyes. Stephenson here will provide you with any details we've learned, including financial information and any social connections from any of the known assailants. But I would hope that you could lead us in a better direction to identify who these people are."

"Will we be working together?" Mari asked as she smiled at Koji.

"Yes. Each of you brings your own talents and experience, in Koji's case he's not only an excellent investigator he's also a quite a good engineer. And I should add I definitely would want him on my side should I find him a dark alley. Miss Illustrious here," Kaji continued, "is very well-trained in a number of fields, and has invaluable experience in matters involving EVA, not to mention that she has a considerable amount of charm that can prove quite useful at times."

"I'm not here to babysit," Koji mused, still skeptical of Mari's role in the investigation.

"I wouldn't expect you to," Mari replied in her own defense. "I've taken down bigger enemies than this."

"I'd hope that between the two of you, each can work out their part of the investigation and then coordinate to cover each other should the need arise." Kaji told them. "Stevenson will be your contact and able to assist if you need any additional assets or assistance. Remember," Kaji looked at Mari. "Your mission is to identify who's behind this, not to try and take then out on your own."

"Oh, you just took all the fun out of this!" Mari pouted.

* * *

The great wooden hall was filled with smoky darkness, illuminated only by rows of candles on either side that glowed in red and orange flickers swaying with an incoming wind. At one end a man waited, shrouded in white robes, standing in front of a monolithic figure thirty feet high. At the other were a set of double doors that rose to the ceiling, doors that now cracked open.

Three other men came through the ancient wooden doorway, two large men dressed in dark tactical clothing dragging a third one by the arms. The hall remained silent except for the howling of wind from the outside as the three of them walked towards the other end.

The two men unceremoniously dropped their captured prey in front of their master, and the third tumbled to the floor, sprawling and wriggling as he struggled to make himself upright. Dressed in rags, he was disoriented and frightened, not knowing where he was now or why he was here.

The master slowly walked towards his captured prey, watching as the wretched man's face was illuminated by the moonlight as he struggled to at least get on his knees. Satisfied that he was the person whom he had been searching for, the master addressed the hunters.

"Where did you find him?"

"Living under a railway bridge outside of Tokyo-2" said one of them. "He looked like this when we found him."

The master walked slowly around the man in rags as he shook his head in panic. "Such a tragedy," said the master. "From such high perches of society to the lows of the sewers and garbage pits."

"Who…who are you?" asked the man in rags. "What am I doing here? What do you want with me?"

"Tell me, my friend," the master addressed the man in rags, "What brought you to such a terrible end while the rest of the world lives in a new age of brilliance and happiness?"

The man in rags scoffed at the description. "I didn't make myself like this, if that's what you're asking."

"Then who did?"

"Someone who wanted me out of the way," said the man in rags. "My life's work destroyed in minutes. I was humiliated, my position taken away from me, my wealth vanquished, my family disgraced…and I was thrown away like so much trash."

"Nobody wants a loser, do they?"

"I didn't lose!" the man in rags protested loudly. " _They_ stole it away from me and left me like this! Did you know I was once the most powerful man in Japanese industry!"

"Yes," the master answered, "I do in fact. And I also know who it was who tore your life asunder." The man in rags didn't reply, but instead looked up at his captor, his face illuminated by candlelight as the master continued.

"What you seek, my pilgrim, is redemption, yes? For the wreck of a man I see here is not really you, is it?"

"It is not," the man in rags said. "But what do you want?"

The master knelt down and looked at the man in rags, the man suddenly becoming surprised when he saw who it was, he was speaking to. "Do you know who I am," the master asked, "who I once was?"

"I think….I do!" the man in rags struggled to remember the face that he saw.

"But I certainly know who you are, and if you want a chance at a new life it is we servants of the Holy One that can help you on that path. But you must leave behind what you were and embrace what you must become."

"Anything is better than this," the man in rags replied despondently.

"Very good," the master said to him. "Now tell me what you know, everything of what you know, of your own creation, and all of your troubles with those who call themselves NERV."

* * *

 _It was a very busy holiday season for me, as my daughter returned from Australia and prepared to go to school in Louisiana, but I've finally caught up and we have another instalment. There's been a time gap of a couple of months from the last chapter, but after an update things get moving and we now have our first glimpse of some of the other players in this drama._

 _I expect to go fairly slow in the next 2-3 months with other installments, and much of the storyline will center around Rei and Erin's relationship. So this will still be running at a somewhat gentle pace before we pickup the action. So please stay tuned and I'll try to work on more installments as quick as I can manage._


	8. Blood, Ice & Fire

**_February_**

Walking hand in hand, Erin and Diego strolled across the campus green as he walked her to her next class. For Erin the last few weeks had been blissful, filled with wonderful moments as she had felt herself treated like a princess once again by her courting prince, and she very much liked that feeling. For his part Diego had so far proven to be charming and attentive, almost too perfect in her view, but she had fell hard and fast for him.

The strolled together making small talk as she moved towards' Erin's work-study workplace at the campus computer center, a tall red and grey steel building not far from the science classrooms where they normally attended class. Once reaching the front of the building they stopped and Erin prepared to go to her shift in the MAGI control center.

"Will I see you tonight?" Diego asked her.

"Of course," Erin said with a smile. "I just got this for a few hours and then I can make it back home. Where did you want to go?"

"I feel like, something…special tonight," Diego said. "Do you know the Grand Hotel on Cambridge Bay?"

"I know about it, although I've never been there."

"Well," the boy invited, "they have a French restaurant at the top that is quite magnificent, with excellent food and spectacular views of the city and the bay."

"Sounds like you've been there already, did you take another girl there?" Erin pried.

"Ah, no. I simply do my research well," Diego answered with a broad smile. "As I want the best for you."

"Well, good food and an excuse to get dressed up are always good ways of bribing me."

"Then I will come and pick you up around 8 o'clock then?"

"I'll be waiting," Erin said with a smile.

"Yes, and, if you don't mind, please try your best to look stunning tonight. I want it to be special."

"Well, alright then, just for you I'll wear something…different."

"I look forward to it, my love," said Diego and he bent over for a kiss, which Erin promptly gave him. She had meant to give a simple love smack on the lips but Diego took over and make it wet and lingering, notwithstanding the sudden curious glares of other students and staff passing by them as they smooched in broad daylight. Erin found the whole thing a bit embarrassing.

"Diego!" she protested in a soft tone. "Not _here!_ "

"Then I will save the rest for tonight, _mon ami_."

"Fine, I'll see you tonight," Erin told him, releasing her from his grip and making her way to the front doors of the computer center. "Bye," she waved just slightly and entered after using her security card to get through the entrance.

"Bye, my darling," he said in return, blowing her a kiss. But Erin didn't respond and instead just walked straight in to the building.

On her way to the computer center, Erin thought to herself. _I like him a lot but sometimes he just overdoes it, be nice to tone it down for a change once we're more steady. On the other hand, it's five-star French food tonight, so I can bear with this act of his just a little._ She allowed herself a smile and her thoughts went to exactly what outfit she would pick out for tonight.

Much later that afternoon in the student café, Rei was seated along with David Zumwalt, or "Zummy-kun" as he was now christened by her, studying together with the American boy in what was now a twice weekly ritual for the in-between classes. Zummy had his laptop computer set up on the table as they both reviewed their math assignments for the next class.

"So x=zy+34, and then co-signs like this," Zummy pointed at the screen with a stylus. "But I'm still not able to determine what the tangent of x is when multiplied by ab."

Rei concentrated on the screen, quickly reviewing in her mind the mathematical formula and running down the proofs. While mathematics wasn't a favorite with her, she was still highly competent at it nonetheless.

"It's here," she took the stylus from Zummy's hand and then marked on the screen along a chain of proofs. "Move c to pi times 3ab."

Zummy took a look and saw his mistake. "Oh, good catch! Here, I'll change that," he gently took the stylus from Rei's hand and made the change on the screen, and then adjusted so the entire chain of proofs for the theorem was correct and in order. "Great, that's all done." They both leaned back on their chairs and gave each other a slight smile.

"Glad to have all of that over with," said Zummy. "You're pretty good at that, ever think about switching your major?" Rei shook her head. "I'm happy where I'm at."

"Genetics seems like a very complex science."

"It is, but it's interesting."

"What do you want to do with it when you graduate?"

"Research scientist," declared Rei. "I already have an offer in Japan."

"Already?! You're just in your first year of school."

"It's the same project I'm already part of," she explained. "So It's desirable that I can continue."

Zummy smiled at her. "Wow. I'm impressed. I'd like to go to Japan too."

"Why?"  
"Number one in the world for robotics," the boy explained. "They're building robots in places like Tokyo-2 and Osaka-2, not exactly in Wisconsin. I'm even learning to speak Japanese now! By the way, where in Japan are you from?"

"Hakone."

Zummy's voice went up with excitement. "Hakone! Are you _serious_? That means you lived right next to Tokyo-3!"

"I lived there once too." Rei said.

"Oh, wow. You didn't say that before! That means you saw _them_ , you must have!"

"Saw what?"

"Well, the Evangelions of course! I mean, you were living so close to the action."

Rei thought to herself for a moment. _I cannot reveal who I am to him, but I do not want to outright lie to him either, Zummy-kun is a friend that I am beginning to trust. How do I handle this?_

"I did see the EVA," Rei finally offered.

"Cool. How up close were you?"

Rei had to admit to herself that this conversation was becoming increasingly ironic. "Close enough."

"That's great," replied Zummy, who was elated. "You must have some really crazy stories, right? I mean the war really tore up the city and all, but I think you're the first person I've met who's actually seen one up close. So did you see them in action?"

"Yes."

"Wow, awesome! I know that they're not quite robots but I've always been interested in the Evangelion ever since I found out what they were. Tried to read everything I could about them. Is it really true that the pilots were teenagers?"

"Yes, that was true," said Rei. "I went to school with some of them."

"Woah, even more awesome! Reiko, I'm so glad I met you!" Rei felt somewhat embarrassed at the attention, even blushing a little in front of Zummy. But she also felt something else at this moment, something that made her physically queasy.

"We've gotta talk about this," Zummy excitedly went to his laptop and started to open up a new screen. "Being as you've actually lived there, I want to confirm a few things I've heard. Is that okay? Reiko?" Zummy looked at her face and suddenly she seemed uncomfortable, her face paler than it usually was.

"Reiko, are you okay?"

She looked at Zummy, herself a little confused at what was going on with her body. Then suddenly she knew, even as it was a new sensation to her.

"Excuse me," she said to him suddenly. "I have to go." Rei quickly scooped up her bookbag and left in a rush, leaving behind her empty tea cup and plate. Zummy just watched her go out without even saying goodbye. _I hope she wasn't spooked by what I brought up_.

* * *

Erin stood in front of the bathroom mirror, adjusting her makeup and getting herself ready for what she hoped was a big night. She had done up her hair with aqua gel and then pinned it up, and then put on a new pair of drop-down jeweled earrings. Also she wore a new dress, a long-sleeved black lace mini-dress with a very off-the shoulder look. She was determined to pull off a sort of "sexy princess" look this night and not look too young for once. Putting on additional hairspray, she shook her head to be sure her hair was holding right, then touched up her deep red lipstick.

 _There. That ought to do._ Erin puckered up and made a kiss. The doorbell rang.

Looking at her watch, she saw that it was only seven-thirty that evening. "He's here early," she said aloud. "Just can't wait to get going, can he?" The doorbell rang again.

"I'll be there in just a minute!"

Erin finally went to the door and checked the camera on her side of it. Standing in front wasn't Diego however, but instead it was Rei, wearing a cold weather jacket over a sweater and long skirt, and a wool cap on her head. _She wasn't supposed to come by tonight, this is all of a sudden._

"Rei?" Erin said as she opened the door. Rei looked at her, her face paler white in color than usual.

"What's wrong?"

Without saying anything, Rei lifted up what at first looked like a large bandage and showed it to Erin. The bandage had a deep red spot on it.

"You're bleeding? Shouldn't you go to the hospital?" Erin searched around, trying to see where Rei was wounded. "Where's it coming from?"

"From here," Rei said quietly, and pointed towards her lower abdomen.

"We should….oh wait a minute!" Erin exclaimed, suddenly realizing what was happening. "Quick, get inside!" She pulled Rei in by the arm and slammed the door.

"Is that what I think it is?" Erin asked Rei. Rei nodded.

"Oh my God! Does that mean the surgery worked?"

"I think so," Rei told her, then said "I feel terrible."

"Don't you have medicine or anything?" Rei then showed Erin a bottle of pills. "Foch-sensei told me to take these." Erin took the bottle and read it. "It's for the cramps, but if this is your first time you're gonna need more than that. Here, sit down!" As Erin dove into the kitchen Rei found the couch and plopped down on it, her face expressionless.

In the kitchen Erin grabbed something from the pantry and then went about making a soup with it. "It's really hard that first time for some people," she told her. "Takes getting used to." Rei didn't say anything in reply.

While she worked on the soup, Erin grabbed her mobile phone and dialed a well-worn number, speaking on the phone as she cooked. "Hi, Dee." Diego's voice came over the line and they spoke in quiet tones as Erin worked.

"Yeah, um, about tonight. I've got to break our date I'm afraid." Rei could hear the conversation from the couch but didn't do anything but just listen to Erin speak on the phone.

"No, no, it's not anything wrong. It's just, well I've got a friend who suddenly got kinda sick and I've got to take care of her tonight. So she's here at my place now." Diego's voice was heard replying on the other end again.

"Yeah, sorry. I was really looking forward to this too but not tonight. Maybe we raincheck it and go again tomorrow night?" Diego's voice came back and Erin listened as he proposed something else.

"Mount Washington? You mean in New Hampshire? When?" Diego continued to explain his proposal as Erin listened further.

"Um, yeah, I don't have any tests next week to study so I should be able to leave tomorrow. I've gotta let my _other_ friends, you know the ones who wear black suits and follow me around all the time know, but yeah I can probably do it."

"Yeah, I know it's really pretty with the winter snow up there, I've seen pictures. I'd love to see it." Diego then spoke further while Erin quietly listened.

"Two nights? Yeah, sure, I'm okay." There was some assurance from the other end and Erin then sealed the deal. "Okay, It's set. We'll leave tomorrow. Thanks!" Diego was thankful too.

"Yeah, we'll then I'll catch you later Dee. Love you! Bye!" Erin then hung up the phone and said softly to herself. "I hope I don't regret agreeing to that." Checking on her stovetop she saw that the soup was done and she poured a portion into a bowl, then took it and walked towards Rei on the couch.

"Here, try this!" Erin gave Rei the warm soup and Rei smelled it first before drinking it. She wrinkled her nose at the scent.

"It's chicken soup," Erin explained. Rei looked at her with surprise.

"Oh, it's not real chicken! It's just the artificial flavor! There's no actual meat in that thing, but it will work the same way." Reluctant, Rei nonetheless took a small drink from the bowl with both hands. Then came something Erin thought she was never see: Rei made a frown, looking as if someone made her drink sewage.

"I know it might suck but you need this. Drink up, okay?" Rei did as she was told and continued to drink the soup despite her aversion to the taste. Erin watched as she slowly finished the bowl, then took it from here and returned to the kitchen. "Sorry about that, but think of it as medicine," she encouraged. Erin then washed the bowl and walked to her bedroom to go fetch something for Rei. In a minute she returned, a large blanket in her hands.

"Here, keep yourself warm," said Erin as she spread the blanket over Rei where she sat down, then Erin sat next to her, tucking her in. Within another couple of minute Rei's face color became more normal and less pale, and she appeared more relaxed.

"How do you feel now?" she asked.

"Better," said Rei. "Thank you."

Erin smiled at her. "Don't mention it!" She patted Rei on the head, being affectionate as comforting as she could.

"Did I interrupt anything? You were going out tonight." Rei asked her.

"Yeah, with Diego. Anyway, please don't worry about it, I've got my priorities." Rei didn't say anything in return but simply gave Erin a slight smile and nod, and then settled into the couch snuggled under the large blanket Erin had put over her.

The two girls just sat there for a couple of minutes, and Erin watched as Rei became sleepier and finally succumbed to the sandman as she closed her eyes and tilted her head towards Erin. By the time she was fast asleep Rei was resting her head on Erin's shoulder.

"You really are something, aren't you?" Erin whispered as Rei slept, and she then gently spread the blanket over both of them on the couch. The night hadn't quite turned out the way she had expected, but just the same it was its own kind of wonderful experience Erin realized as she watched Rei's face while she slept.

 ** _Somewhere in the Canadian northern territories_**

The helicopter buzzed the treeline as it sped just over the forest of snow-laden green fur trees. The sky was a pale shade of grey and white clouds, with a strong wind carrying snow flurries that sprayed into the open doors of the chopper as it flew.

Inside of the cargo section of the helo were six men, all wearing winterized white combat fatigues and boots, and with bulky backpacks positioned in front of them. Each of the men had hard faces from weeks of intensive training but prepared themselves for what would be perhaps the toughest experience yet for them. Five of them had beards but one did not, and in fact had no facial hair at all.

"Good day, lads," said an older man in a white set of camouflage fatigues seated across from the six men. "Kind of you all to join us for our winter outing. Now, we're going to fly you a bit outside the training area to get you started," the instructor explained, "but this whole thing is rather simple. All you have to do is make it back to base in one week. That's easy, right?" There was some nervous laughter among the six training candidates.

"Did I mention that it hasn't snowed this much in this part of Canada in the last twenty years?" the instructor continued. "So I hope you like winter weather, as you've got plenty of it now." The men started to check their gear, making sure that they had everything needed for the exercise.

"Like I said, you've got one week to make it back," the instructor continued. "Those who show up on time pass the course. Those who don't, _don't_. But fifty kilometers through the snow and mountains shouldn't be too much for you given everything else you've survived up to this point. If you think it's not going to work out for you ladies, you've all got a flare gun with one shot, just pop it off and we'll come and get your sorry ass out of the snow. Only one shot, so don't cock it up!" Several of the trainees checked to be sure they had their flare guns, most of them having them strapped to their ankles or belts.

"Now, any last questions?" the instructor asked. He looked towards the trainee at the end of the row, seated next to the open bay of the helicopter who had raised his hand.

"What do you want, Mountain Boy?"

"I forgot my snowboard," said Patrick. "Can we go back and get it?"

"Forrestal, you're such a cheeky son of a bitch," the instructor replied. "How 'bout you go and fetch it yourself!" The instructor made a hand motion to the pilot to lower the helicopter, and the chopper maneuvered to just a few meters off the snow, stopping and hovering.

"First Stop!" the instructor announced. "Forrestal, you get off here. Hand me your rucksack!" Patrick did as ordered, and handed the instructor his backpack as he stood up and prepared to leave the helicopter.

Suddenly the instructor slammed the backpack over to the other side of the chopper and before Patrick could try and reach over to grab it the man gave Patrick a good kick in the shin, pushing him out of the open door and outside of the helicopter. Patrick landed on the snowy ground outside, his wool cap nearly being blown off by the rotor wake.

"Hey!" yelled Patrick at the instructor. "Where's my backpack?"

"That's the surprise I was saving for you," the instructor yelled back at him from the helicopter. "You get to go without it!"

"Fuck!" Patrick shouted. "Don't I at least get anything?"

The instructor tossed something at Patrick and it landed in the snow a meter away from him. "That's all you need, Mountain Boy! Now I'll see you next week! Cheers!" Before Patrick could say anything else the helicopter accelerated and took off, leaving him there in the isolated patch of snow as the instructor waved goodbye out the door opening.

"Assholes," he said under his breath as he watched his ride fly over the horizon. _At least they didn't take my parka and boots while they were at it._ Patrick looked around to see what the instructor threw out and found it with it's black handle sticking out of the snow. Picking it up, he saw it was a survival blade, an American-made Whestone, which he knew was a high quality steel knife. Patrick quickly checked the knife and discovered the handle screwed off, and inside he found matches, a compass, bandages, and fishing line and hooks.

Reassembling the knife handle and then strapping it to his belt. Patrick looked around at the barren but breathtaking snow-covered wilderness around him, on one hand glad to finally be in the remote wild, but on the other knowing that beneath the great beauty of the land around him was danger, danger that he needed to overcome if he wanted to stay alive.

Patrick drew a deep breath and watched as his exhale make clouds in front of him, knowing that it was bitterly cold where he stood. He needed to get moving, if nothing else just to keep warm.

"Well, I guess it can't get much worse than this," he said to himself as he started the long trek south. In the distance he then heard the distinctive howl of a timber wolf, followed by two or three more. He wasn't alone after all, but a smile crossed his lips as he began to hike out of the landing zone and into the wilderness. For the first time in a long, long time, he felt he was finally in his element and even despite icy cold, steep mountains, and carnivorous land mammals he was going to get through this and return to his angel waiting for him at home.

* * *

The following Tuesday Zummy sat in the student café, books spread out over a table and notebook computer switched on and studied while he waited for his lunch partner. He had welcomed the now-routine sessions with the girl he knew as Reiko Kaji and found her an interesting person as well as a highly efficient study mate who seemed to know the answers to nearly anything related to the sciences. Additionally, Reiko seemed not to care a whit about Zummy's social status and while she still was well-attached to her absent boyfriend, to Zummy it was nice to have a girl as a friend and a gracefully beautiful one at that.

Rei was late on that particular day however, and without a partner Zummy simply continued with his study while munching on chips and drinking iced coffee. At one point he got bored with it and then went switched on his IP-masking software, and then started up a new desktop screen for his main hobby outside of school.

"Hey, there!" Zummy turned around and saw Erin, wearing a bright red coat and white scarf along with a black skirt and black boots, she waived at him as she stood just a few feet away.

"Hi, Erin" he replied. "Reiko's not come in yet, I guess she's running late. Do you want to sit down?"

"Sure," she said and Erin dropped her bookbag on the bench as she took up a seat next to Zummy.

"Long weekend?" he asked, trying to make small talk as she unpacked a notebook from her bookbag.

"Um, you could say that," she said with a forced smile. "Kind of eventful." Zummy didn't think much on the answer and went back to his notebook computer while Erin opened her own notebook and turned it on.

While she waited for the laptop to boot, Erin took a look at what was on Zummy's screen and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What's _that_?!" she pointed.

"Oh! Oh, that? _That_ is EVA-CHAN."

"EVA- _What_?!"

"EVA-CHAN. It's a members-only group cloud that exchanges info on Evangelion. Mostly rumors and stuff, inside information, that sort of thing."

"Wait, this is an internet group about Evangelion?"

"Not just _any_ internet group," explained Zummy. "We only allow members who have information that's not in the public eye, or have something to contribute. They let me in about two years ago when I wrote my article about Evangelion during high school, because they thought I had a lot of insight into what it was and what we still don't know about it."

"So it's not a public group, then?"

"Oh, no. There's rumors and stuff about the program but sometimes the information might be sensitive, so we keep the board restricted to only those who can contribute. There's maybe like a hundred or so here, and it uses hyperdynamic IP masking to keep us out of the main Internet so the curious can't just barge in."

Erin was now quite interested. "But _you're_ telling me about this…."

"Well, um, I've been showing it to Reiko, and she told me you were living in Hakone with her so I figured you're both sort of qualified."

"Wait, you showed Rei...I mean _Reiko_ this? What exactly did she think?"  
"She just said it was interesting what people though of it. She corrected some of my geography about the area, otherwise she didn't really say much."

 _Oh, boy, if you only knew who "Reiko" really was_. "So, anyway, what exactly do you guys talk about?"

"All sorts of topics come up. Some people go through the Katsuragi book and find things are inconsistent or where it's not really clear, and it's vague about a lot of things. Other people talk about what happened After the Tokyo-3 battle between NERV and the UN, and speculate what happened with EVA. The Alliance keeps a lot of secrets about the period after the Battle of Tokyo-3, but it's known that they used Evangelions in China, Russia and even Norway, as well as in Japan, so they're still operational. Then there's what they're doing with them now. They say NERV is just a research lab now, so where did the Evangelions go? That sort of thing."

"Aren't you worried that you're going to get in trouble with the authorities with this stuff?"

"Well, I figure a lot of what we talk about is spitballing so it's just stuff we guess that happened, it's not like we actually know it. But there was this one source of info from when it was all happening that's archived there and it's gots lots of details that don't show up in the Katsuragi book. Here," Zummy said as he went to another screen window, "Let me show you."

Erin watched as Zummy went though several screens, at one point inserting a portable USB drive into his laptop in order to input an entry code. Erin noted to herself that this was very sophisticated security compared to what she thought most teenagers knew about computers.

"We keep this part of the site really under wraps, mostly because it's pretty shocking if it came out in the general public," Zummy commented. "But those of us in the member circle discuss this all the time, trying to verify this or that or find anyone else with similar stories. Lots of us think this guy was just making crap up but actually I think its pretty solid info. Here we are."

Zummy pointed to the screen as he ran a parallel translation window to the first window he had opened. The first window was nearly entirely in Japanese, and to Erin looked like an early-generation blog that was heavy on text and light on images and pretty presentation. But it was packed with information, even as her own knowledge of written Japanese wasn't all that great she could make out much of what it said and it gave her pause.

"I've got a translator open on it now, but actually this was so interesting it prompted me to start learning Japanese myself," Zummy chuckled. "Anyway, this is from a guy in Japan with the handle WARMASTER. WARMASTER apparently was very close to the Evangelion program, not only the EVA but also the pilots. Let me show you an example." Zummy clicked on a link and a video file popped up, playing a very short 10 second film, but what was on the film caused Erin to gasp in shock.

"See? This is the actual entry plug for an EVA, and he's there and there's this other kid there, and then there's the pilot right there," Zummy pointed at the screen, showing the backside of a boy wearing a blue and white plug suit. "You can't see the faces but it's clearly teenagers in this thing. So somehow WARMASTER or whoever shot this video got into an entry plug during an actual battle!"

Erin knew all too well the video wasn't fake. While she couldn't make out the faces, the silhouettes in the video clearly matched Shinji Ikari with his blue and white plug suit, and Toji Suzahara with his black tracksuit that he wore just about everywhere. She also knew the entry plug interior and doubted anyone without inside knowledge could make it look so real like it was on the video, wraparound holographic display and all.

"Where did he get this?"

"There's more than this," the boy continued. "Here's another video: do you remember the battle in Tokyo-3? This guy got close enough to get very good video on the Final Angel, or whatever they call that anomaly that grew over Tokyo-3 itself. If you watch just regular press video of that you can't make much out, but this guy's view was great and you can clearly see it!" Zummy played the video and Erin studied it, knowing perfectly well who it was.

Still trying to play along, Erin was determined to find out more about what Zummy knew regarding EVA. "It looks like a girl," she said.

" _Exactly!_ This _wasn't_ an Angel, at least not like the others. This one was human. Ginormously white. Huge boobs, but something very different. And then she just goes 'poof!' That's what I'm saying, NERV and the Alliance still hide lots of stuff about the program for whatever reason."

"Does anyone know who WARMASTER actually is?" Erin pried.

"Definitely Japanese, likely a student, and maybe was a pilot himself," said Zummy. "They think he's a pilot because he also fills in some details about what happened after the battle for Tokyo-3 with the EVAs and all. He's the one who said there were more EVAs that came after the bottle that fought for the Alliance, with American and British pilots. He's also the one that said that an EVA survived NERV-2 being blown up, although personally I think that's BS. No way anything got out of that alive."

Erin fought to control her emotions on hearing about the fate of her former home. _He doesn't really know anything_ , she told herself, _can't fault him for that_. "So what happened to him?"

"Nobody knows. Most of us think that somehow he was caught putting out info and then they tossed him into prison. Or maybe he died or something. Anyway, we've archived the files here on a 'Need to Know' basis, which was part of WARMASTER's original conditions for the info."

Thinking about everything that Zummy told her, Erin pondered who WARMASTER could have been and a creeping realization formed in the back of her mind that left her cold.

 _What should I do?_ She wondered. _This all seems important and considering that someone was after Rei and still might be it's possible this could be how they found out she was here at school somehow._ Knowing how close Zummy and Rei had become friends made Erin even more suspicious of Zummy at that moment, but she continued to keep up her act.

"Could you show me more of this?" Erin asked him in an innocent tone as she batted her eyelashes. "I mean, do they talk about the other pilots?"

"Oh, yeah!" Zummy closed the WARMASTER screens and then opened a new set of windows. "There's a few things here. Of course most of the pilots' names are supposed to be fake, their identities secret but people know them as First, Third, Fourth Child etc. And then, of course, there's Asuka." Zummy opened another screen that contained a massive image library, with hundreds of photos of Asuka Soryu Langley.

"Holy smoke!" Erin exclaimed.

"Yeah, she's pretty hot," said Zummy as he clicked through images of Asuka, some of which were from press events that she attended when she first publicly came out as an Evangelion pilot two years before, but many of which were modeling photos from her somewhat successful side career. "All that and brains too. They said she had her college degree at twelve."

"Eh, she's pretty smart. I'll give it that."

"Did you ever meet her? I mean when you were living in Japan?"

"Uh, ah, well, sometimes you'd see a girl with red hair walking around Hakone and everyone would shout 'Hey, Asuka!' but it was just a girl with red hair. It was kind of the local joke." Erin smiled broadly, hoping Zummy would buy the story.

"I see. But now that EVA's been shut down there's very little about the pilots, and even Asuka's gone quiet now. I guess they're all tying to have normal lives."

"I think I would too if I was one of them…"

"Anyway, there's lots of stuff on the site, anything regarding Evangelion," said the boy. "There's all sorts of rumors too, or stuff that people think happened or maybe knew someone who saw something that happened."

Erin put on her best innocent look. "That all looks very interesting, actually. Do you mind if I check this out a little?"

"Oh, sure!" Zummy was happy to oblige, "just don't post anything please, we're logged into my own account. If you want I can set you up with your own account, if you're interested?"

"Do you think I'd qualify?"

"You work with the MAGI here at school and you lived in Hakone, so that's kinda sorta a connection. That kind of stuff is what gets you into the inner circle. So why not?"

"Cool," Erin scooted over closer to Zummy and took control over the notebook as he watched for a moment while Erin parused the site menus. "Hey, Zummy?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm kind of thirsty, can you do me a favor and get a cup of water from the service counter?"

"Oh, sure! Here, I'll go get it." Erin watched as Zummy went to go fetch the water and then quickly keyed instructions on the keyboard. She then turned her attention to paging through the different discussion topics, wondering if any one of them might have information on current pilot whereabouts.

Within the topics directory page, Erin found dozens of subjects that each had their own folder and messaging board. Given that the website was run entirely by people who were outsiders to the EVA program Erin smiled to herself a bit when she saw some of the discussion topics, some of which were wildly off the mark.

EVA WRECKAGE FOUND IN NEW YORK HARBOR TURNS OUT TO BE SUNKEN STATUE OF LIBERTY

I WAS AMOST AN EVA PILOT BUT MY MOM WOULDN'T LET ME SIGN UP

UNITS 00, 01, 02 AND 03 ARE REALLY FOUR BARONS OF HELL

COULD AN EVA UNIT ACTUALLY FLY IF IT WANTED TO?

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO NERV02? SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE?

EVA PROJECT IS ACTUALLY FAKE ENTIRE ANGEL WAR FILMED IN GODZILLA STUDIO

NERV IS DESCENDED FROM NAZI PROJECT TO TAKE OVER WORLD, ASUKA LANGLEY IS GIRL CLONE CROSS BETWEEN TOJO AND HITLER

MY BROTHER WAS IN UN FLEET SAW EVA ON ANGEL BATTLE IN THE OCEAN

FOURTH CHILD SPOTTED AT OSAKA-2 KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN

WHO WAS WARMASTER? PILOT? CREWMEMBER? OR JUST LUCKY KID?

GIANT ANGEL ANOLOMY OVER TOKYO-3 WAS VISION OF MASS HYSTERIA

I JUST BUILT MY OWN MODEL KIT OF UNIT-01!

YO HEY THE FIFTH CHILD WAS GAY

ASUKA SIGHTING IN PARIS DEUX CORDON BLEU

WAS SEELE CONSPIRACY ACTUALLY THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS ALL ALONG?

Erin had to really suppress giggles as she paged through the topics. _They really don't know anything at all, do they?_ She opened a few of the folders and scanned the postings, which seemed to come from other kids like Zummy who were curious about EVA but just hung onto any rumor or "secret" that they heard, unsubstantiated or not. A couple of the folders had real info, such as telephoto shots of Asuka or Toji taken from someone's camera while they were going outside, but nothing that could really be considered truly secret.

 _If I ever need a good laugh I'll just go through this whole thing_ , Erin thought to herself. She kept paging through the topics.

HOW MANY EVA UNITS DOES IT TAKE TO SCREW IN A LIGHT BULB? EVANGELION-RELATED HUMOR

MY CLASSMATE'S BEST FRIEND'S GIRLFRIEND ONCE MET A STUDENT WHO SAT IN CLASS NEXT TO EVA PILOTS IN TOKYO-3

SHIN-GHIBLI STUDIO DIRECTOR ANNO ANNOUNCES NEW EVA-RELATED MOVIE

I SAW EVANGELIONS IN CHINA – VIDEO FOOTAGE!

IT IS POSSIBLE TO ACTUALLY GO TO THE NERV HQ GEOFRONT NOW?

EVA UNITS POWERED WITH BLOOD TAKEN FROM GIANT ANGEL

I'M SLEEPING WITH A REAL EVA PILOT AND HERE'S PROOF!

That last entry focused Erin's attention, and she opened up the folder. The first posting was from someone with the user ID of "Senior Padrote." Erin knew enough Spanish to know that the meaning of "Padrote" was stud.

 _SENIOR PADROTE: I am attending school in America and found there one of the secret American EVA pilots that many of you have heard rumors about. She asked me to keep her identity secret but in return I physically satisfy her very well._

Upon reading the posting Erin became very sick to her stomach. _It's not Diego. It can't be…._

 _EVA UNIT-69: No way dude! Everyone knows all of the pilots are Japanese. Besides, she's probably some girl that just lied to you in order to get free dinners and nookie from you._

 _SENIOR PADROTE: I tell you this is on the level. I have proof!_

 _SHODDYGELLION: Photos/video or it didn't happen. Did she show you her EVA unit? Did you go through the entry hole?_

 _SENIOR PADROTE: She did live in Japan, that I confirmed. There are two other "secret" pilots that I met there as well. But if you want proof that she is legit pilot here it is:_

Below the posting Erin saw a photograph, one that featured a set of A10 neural interfaces on a headband. She saw that the color of the headset was orange and gasped audibly.

"Are you alright?" Erin turned around and saw Zummy holding a drink for her, the one that she asked him to get for him so she could secretly check the website. Inside Erin felt more sick and very cold.

"Excuse me," she said as she suddenly got up out of the chair to go. With one hand she grabbed her bookbag and her coat and scarf, but with the other she snapped up the USB drive that was plugged into Zummy's laptop, and hoped her distraction continued enough to where the boy wouldn't immediately notice.

"I've got to go. Bye." Erin rushed out of the café, leaving a bewildered Zummy behind still holding her drink.

In less than fifty steps Erin was out of sight of the café and out of earshot of everyone else. She struggled to fight back tears, as she didn't just feel sick but dirty as well. She had given all of herself to someone whom she trusted, yet again, and had been betrayed in the worst possible way. Looking down at the stolen pin drive on her right hand, Erin made a fist and kept the drive inside her palm as she rushed to the campus computer center. _I'll cry later but now "Mister Stud" you'll see what happens when you rip a girl's heart to pieces. Prepare to die in a fire!_

* * *

Ah, finally another installment. I'm frightfully busy as usual with work and such. Hey, I've got a kid in medical school and writing EVA stories doesn't pay those giant invoices, but somehow I still find the time to do this. A lot happens in this chapter, and yes we've got drama of all kinds going on so please read and enjoy and we'll get to another installment soon. Cheers!


	9. Tears in Rain

Early that evening Rei had returned to her loft from school and lab. On the prior evening Dr. Foch gave her another exam and determined that her remaining internal surgery wounds had completely healed and she was released from any remaining physical restrictions, and as a result Rei intended to promptly resume both swimming and dance and get herself back into better physical shape.

She had initially though to go to the student pool that evening, but the weather outside was cold and rainy and she didn't want to risk catching cold on her first outing swimming. Instead she changed into dance attire and started working on stretching inside of the apartment. For the next half an hour and wearing a lavender-colored strap leotard and white tights, Rei slowly stretched out every muscle of her legs and back on the apartment floor as her cat sat on the bed and looked on.

Rei was still working on loosening up her muscles when there was a knock on the door. She hadn't expected anyone to come that evening and wondered who it was. She sprung herself off the apartment floor and glided towards the front door and opened it.

Standing outside in the pouring rain was Erin. Her blonde hair was drenched wet and her clothes were soaked, and her quivering face showed the expression of anger and sadness. Wet mascara mixed with the tears that were drained down her cheeks in the rain. The two girls looked at each other for a moment, and then Erin rushed for Rei and embraced her, burying her face on her shoulder as she sobbed.

Taking her off the front porch and out of the rain, Rei led Erin to the inside of the loft and sat her down on the bed, while she then went to the kitchen to make hot tea. Erin tried to recover herself while she sat and waited for Rei, gently petting the cat in silence as Rei worked on preparing things in the kitchen.

Within a few minutes Rei came back with a tray and two teacups and offered it to Erin, who took a teacup and promptly sipped it while Rei took the other and sat down next to her. Together the two girls simply sipped tea as the rain intensified outside, the only sounds being Erin's slurps and an occasional purr from the cat.

Finally, Rei broke the silence, having confidence in knowing why Erin was there. "Something happened with the boy, didn't it?" Erin was shaking, trying to get herself steady enough to speak.

"I'm such a fool," she said. Rei didn't say anything to her but simply listened on.

"I trusted him. I…I thought that he was different. So nice, so easy to get along with. And then when he's got what he wants out of me this happens!"

"What happened?" Rei asked. Erin grabbed her phone out of her coat pocket and handed it to Rei, the front screen was still showing the message board where Erin saw Diego's posting at EVA-Chan.

"This is EVA-Chan," declared Rei. Then she read the complete string of messages and fully understood Erin's plight.

"I can't believe I did this!" cried Erin. "I'm such an idiot, I always trust the wrong person."

"That is not true," Rei told her.

"How isn't it?"

"You are here now. Can you not trust me?"

Erin looked at Rei, managing a broken smile. "I guess you're right. But I really messed this up."

Rei however was very logical on the whole affair. "You are still here. You are still alive and healthy. Did you speak to him about this?"

"Yeah, after I did a few things on-line." Rei's eyebrows went up in surprise. Erin looked at her and said. "Don't ask what I did. In any case he won't be here at school much longer. But he's like 'oh, I didn't mean to hurt you, I didn't actually mention you by name' and shit like that. What an asshole," Erin continued. "He just wanted a conquest he could show off."

"Someone hurt him a long time ago," Rei said to Erin. "He is acting out of the rejection but chose foolishly."

"He knew what he was doing," replied Erin. "I'm the fool here. Shouldn't have gave myself to him like that." Erin sighed and then looked at Rei again. "I guess it's good that Patrick wasn't here when this happened, was it? Otherwise he would have dropped him head-first out of the school tower."

Finally feeling a bit warmer from being in Rei's loft, Erin stood up and started to remove her coat. "I'm sorry, I didn't take off my wet clothes when I came in here." She slipped off her sweater. "Hey," Erin spoke to Rei, still trembling with emotion. "Anyway that I can…you know, stay the night? I just don't want to be alone tonight." Rei nodded with agreement.

For the next hour Erin cleaned herself up, removing her wet clothes and then taking a hot shower while Rei waited and prepared more hot tea for the two of them. Rei loaned Erin an oversized t-shirt top and she wore it as a night shirt as the two of them again sat on the bed and drank hot tea to warm the chills of the night. Erin didn't say much more to Rei during the evening, except to sit and watch as Rei cleaned up and prepared for sleep. Despite the early hour sleep seemed like the best thing to both girls and just before 10 o'clock they both took to Rei's bed and settle in under the covers, Rei wearing an oversized white button-down nightshirt as her usual sleeping gown.

With the lights out the two girls lay there in the darkness of the apartment, only feeling the howling wind rub against the glass of the windows, and the cat as he jumped back onto the bed to get warm. They remained that way, with Rei curled up on her side of the bed while Erin stared at the ceiling.

"Why do I keep doing this?" Erin finally asked.

"What are you doing?" replied Rei.

"I always trust the wrong person. I mean, for years I trusted my dad, really believed in everything he said. Then I found Patrick and found out just how much he hid from me. Then I trusted Vance and it turned out he was a killer. And then it was Keel and he just lied and lied to me and I bought all of it."

"You learned the truth about each one of them," said Rei.

"Yeah, but always too late. Now this happens. I mean," Erin sighed long and hard. "I mean, Diego seemed like a perfect gentleman. Really nice, seemed to always be there and willing to put up with me, for months even. All for this? And I just totally fell for it. I just don't get why he would do it, why it was just so important that he had to…well, _deflower_ me and then do that afterwards. Just ruins everything."

"You're not ruined," Rei observed.

"I suppose not. But I just wanted _that_ , you know, to be special. Now every time I think about it I think about how screwed over I made myself."

"You're not the only one to mistrust someone," said Rei. Erin turned over in bed as Rei continued.

"In the beginning," Rei told her, "the Commander was the first person I knew. He was the first one to do anything kind for me. I did not know anyone else or anything else, so it was easy for me to focus on him."

She went on. "There was a point when he was everything. All I wanted was to see him smile, to even just touch me a little. Even after I met Onii-chan, I still thought of him so much. But he hid things from me."

"Like what?"

"Like the other me. Like who I came from. When I finally reached out to Unit 01, I learned some of the truth, but I could not do anything about it. I was not strong then. It was not until I became the next me that I realized what had truly happened. And I hated him for it."

"So your dad lied to you too."

"He did worse."

"What else did he do?"

Rei rolled over and looked at Erin in the darkness. She stared at her with he upmost seriousness, and Erin struggled to understand what Rei was trying to communicate to her. Finally Rei took Erin's hand and moved it down to between her legs, showing Erin where Commander Ikari had once touched her. Erin's eyes went wide.

"What?!" she whispered, releasing her hand from Rei.

"He put Adam inside of me," Rei told her, "by doing this."

"Oh my God! What…what did you do?"

"I almost ended the world."

"Well, that would have been a bummer."

"It was Onii-chan that pulled me back," she went on. "Actually it wasn't just Onii-chan, but it was Forri-kun too. Forri-kun helped teach me to think for myself, and I knew that I wanted to be myself. But, to be myself I had to forget the bad he did. I had to forget the lies. I had to accept the good things and that there were good things. But that there was no point in hating him, or else I would become him."

"So you forgave him?"

"I forgave myself," Rei corrected. "I had to do that first. I had to forgive myself for being a fool, and learn to love myself despite it. Then the rest became alright."

Erin was intrigued at how open Rei was with her. Had she ever spoke to anyone else before like this about her secrets? She wondered. "Whatever happened to him?" asked Erin. "Commander Ikari? Patrick never mentions him."

"He helped defeat SEELE, so they let him go. He teaches now, and he no longer has a beard. I have not communicated with him since he left."

"Do you feel like you ever could?"

Rei paused a little before answering. "I want to. I want to tell him everything I've learned, and hope he will understand. But it will not be the same. And sometimes I still think of when he was there and I knew nothing but him, and how simple that was. And sometimes I still think of the hurt, and of what he did. I also know that he is not the same as he was. Like me, there is a new him too. So it is difficult."

"I had no idea. Does Patrick know any of this?"

"No. I will not tell him," said Rei. "if Forri found out I know what he would do. Especially now, now that Forri is learning how to hunt other men. That would make matters much worse."

"Hmmph," Erin replied. "Mr. Stud doesn't seem so bad compared to that."

"So you are fortunate."

"Still stupid."

"No, you're not."

They paused for a while and then rolled over to try and sleep. The wind had died down and the rain became more gentle, with a soft pitter-patter on the glass windows of the loft. Rei rolled over in the bed and Erin pressed against her back for warmth, wrapping her arms around her.

"What if I'm pregnant?" she asked Rei in the darkness. Rei didn't reply right away, but her response came as a surprise to Erin.

"I'd like to see what your child would be like."

"You're kidding, right? You'd _want_ me to be pregnant?"

"I want _me_ to be pregnant," Rei replied. "But hopefully under better circumstances." Rei turned over to speak to Erin further.

"I am sorry. I do not mean that you prefer this right now."

"Not, but I can understand your point. What's easy for the rest of us isn't easy for you, is it?" Rei shook her head. "No, although perhaps that has changed. But Forri-chan, if you become pregnant, I will help you."

"Because you'd want to see what my kid would be like?"'

"Because I want to give any life that I can a chance, no matter where it comes from."

Erin just looked at Rei, not immediately knowing how she should feel. She knew she didn't want to compound her mistake with having a child out of it, but all the same she could understand where Rei was coming from. As she was already giving up so much of her time and energy just to have the possibility of even having children of her own, Rei knew the value well of what she was offering Erin. It was inspiring enough to Erin to appreciate exactly what Rei meant, and that perhaps things weren't as bad as they seemed. Rei rolled over again and again Erin put her arms around her, holding her tight.

"You know, if you and Patrick stay together for much longer we won't be just friends. We'll be sisters, won't we?"

Rei didn't look back but took Erin's hands in her own. "I think I'd like that."

* * *

 **Hakone, Japan**

To Misato, the kitchen had always represented a symbol of frustration and anguish as she wasn't a particularly patient woman. Losing her mother early in life had not helped the matter, and by the time she was an adult her household diet had consisted of instant everything from ramen to teppanyaki. Her only true expertise in the kitchen arts had been to master precisely what settings she needed to enter on the microwave oven controls.

But then came Akira, her little black-haired bundle of joy, and suddenly she was faced with the challenges of feeding a small child with a still-developing palate and immune system. When Misato first gave birth to Akira, she at least had the benefits of other more responsible persons in the household, and wit the ample assistance of Shinji, Rei, and Kaji she managed those first two years of baby food and frequent diaper changes.

Now however the kids were all gone overseas to school and Kaji's workload saw him more frequently away from home, leaving Misato to contend alone with an adorable but temperamental two-year-old. Well, she wasn't quite alone.

"PenPen?" Misato called out to the bird as she worked on lunch for her toddler. "PenPen?" Dutifully, the black and white penguin waddled over to her as she stood above the stove top. Failing badly at first in making semi-solid food to give Akira in order to wean him off baby food products, Misato had developed a system where she'd make something like soft rice with little protein bits like chicken or fish and then surreptitiously feed a portion to PenPen first in order to check if the food was appetizing. If PenPen took it well, then it would probably be good enough for Akira to not throw it back in her face upon tasting it.

Life had been good to PenPen, too good in fact. The little penguin had gained significant weight since his days in Misato's Tokyo-3 apartment and now he spent his existence daily lounging about the Kaji house's large grounds, occasionally taking dips in the koi pool in their backyard when he wasn't sitting in his own small room watching TV and reading up on local politics in the newspaper. Actually no one knew what PenPen read in the newspaper, or even if he read at all, but somehow he was strangely satisfied with the experience and no one questioned it.

"Here you go," Misato gave PenPen a little spoonful and watched as he carefully sniffed and then slurped up the gooey rice mix in his beak. Thinking a little about what he just ate, the little bird looked up at Misato and squawked with approval. Misato sighed in relief.

"Thank you, mister royal taste-tester! Now let's get Prince Akira in here and try it out." Misato then called out "Akira-chan! Lunch!"

From the hallway came a little black-haired two-year-old boy wearing nothing but a diaper, and holding a tiny jet fighter in his hand. "Zoomzoomzoom" the boy chortled as he stumbled into the kitchen.

"Okay, there you are!" cheerfully greeted Misato as she lifted her son up and into a high chair. "Let's get you set up and fed, okay?" She carefully tied on a bib in front of Akira's chest and then presented him with today's lunch, hoping that this time she could get him on real food and not have to resort to the pureed canned variety again.

"Lunch!" Aikira happily cried out upon seeing the food, and Misato hoped that was as good sign. With PenPen watching from below, she scooped out a spoonful and fed it to Akira. The little boy was reluctant at first but took a mouthful and then took it down with little protest, gratifying Misato to no end.

"Good job! Now let's do that again!" She took a second spoonful and again the little boy gulped it down. "So far so good!" she told him, and now presented the spoon to Akira. "Can you do this by yourself, Akira-chan?" The boy looked at her and then grabbed the toy spoon from Misato's hand. He looked at the soft rice in front of him, scooped up a heaping amount and then presented it to his mouth as Misato looked expectantly. _He's gonna do it this time!_

A second later, a large protectible of rice and fish landed on Misato's nose, flung there by a laughing Akira. "Mommy funny!" he said out loud as he did it again before she could take the spoon away. Misato quickly wiped off the food and saw PenPen also squawking below her.

"Don't you encourage him, you stupid bird!" she chided. She was about to correct Akira but then the house rang with the digital sound of an incoming call.

"CALL FROM," the automatic speaker sounded out, "SHIN-CHAN."

 _Good, a break from this_. "Take it please!" Misato announced to the house digital assistant and then the call came on the line.

"Ah, Shinji! Such great timing, I was just feeding Akira lunch!"

Shinji's voice came over the house speakers. "Did he get it all over the floor again!"

"On my face actually," she giggled a bit.

"Well, he's learning. He'll be making his own microwave ramen before you know it."

"That'll be a relief," said Misato with a great deal of honesty. "How are you doing? Isn't it pretty early over there?"

"Yeah, I just got up. Actually I wanted to call you right away and tell you I'll be in Japan soon."

"So early? I thought spring break wasn't until March?"

"Well, something came up and I need to come early."

"Why, what happened? Did you get Asuka pregnant?" asked Misato as she smiled to herself.

"MISATO!" Shinji shouted back in a nervous reply. "It's not anything like that!" Misato laughed out loud, knowing fully well Shinji was not telling her the full extent of his current relationship with his fellow EVA pilot. "Then what's brining you home so soon?"

"I got an offer to play solo at an event in Kyushu, in New Kagoshima City."

"All the way down there?"

Shinji explained further. "It's for a charity fundraiser. I told them I was busy in school, but then they'd said they'd make sure my expenses were all well-covered and make a donation to the charity of my own choice. I was thinking about the new foundation you started up with the book proceeds."

"You mean the one in Kensuke's name?"

"Yeah. I'm still using my stage name for this, Misato, so they don't know who I really am. But I thought it would be a good opportunity."

"School's that boring for you then?"

"For me, not really. But for someone else who's having trouble getting along with her teachers…"

Misato knew who that was all too well. "Ah, no need to explain further. Then she'll be coming along, right? It'll be good to see you two again so soon after Christmas. But is your school okay with taking time off?"

"I already spoke to Herr Mueller, and he's okay with this as long as the school gets credited. Oh, and I've got to do more time with him this week to make up for the time off, but that's fine."

"That all seems okay, but who's inviting you to this thing?"

"Something about the Foundation for a Better World. I've never heard of them before, but they seem well organized and they said that he wanted me specifically. He said he heard me on that New Year's broadcast I did before and from the recent concert in Germany. Anyway, can I do this?" Shinji asked for approval.

"It sounds like a good opportunity," Misato mused, "but I just want to know more about it, as I've never heard of a group with that name before. Go ahead and tell them you should be free once you check with us on it. And Shinji, do me a big favor? Did they send you anything like an invitation by email? Can you send that over to me pretty-please?"

"Okay, I'll send it. Just don't forget to get back to me soon!" Shinji was experienced enough with Misato to know she had her share of distractions.

"Of course," Misato said. "Don't you worry about it!"

Later that evening Kaji made it back to the home late, past ten in the evening as his Porsche 935 pulled through the open security door and into the house driveway. As usual Kaji walked from the detached garage through the central yard of the spacious property, passing by the koi pond and then to the main house, where a black and white bird was waiting for him at the rear patio door.

"Good evening, little fella," Kaji told PenPen, promptly pulling out a small white food take-out bag from his shoulder bag and showing him a piece of fried fish. The hot springs penguin stood at attention as Kaji gently hung it over PenPen and dropped the fish into his wide-open mouth. Satisfied with the late-night snack, PenPen belched then waddled over to his room to sleep off the meal while Kaji made his way to the kitchen.

Misato sat at the kitchen counter, with a glass of beer in her hand as she saw Kaji walk in. "I'm home," Kaji called out.

"Welcome home!" replied Misato, and promptly gave him a good kiss on the lips as he shuffled over to her.

"Where's our little monster?" he asked.

"Finally sleeping it off. Never appreciated how much energy a two-year-old has until now. Dinner's over there for you," informed Misato as she motioned to the deluxe sushi plate next to her on the counter.

"What's the occasion?" Kaji asked her as he sat down to eat.

"Nothing in particular," said Misato as she poured beer into a glass next to Kaji's place. The two of them clanked glasses and then chugged their drinks down quickly, then Misato poured another two drinks for them both.

"Shinji's coming to Japan next month," she told him as he started on his sushi, "He's been invited to play at a charity concert in New Kagoshima."

"Well, that's good for him. I think his music career is really taking off after that composition of his." Kaji took another bite of his sushi and then glanced at Misato, who was staring at him. He knew her well enough by now to know that she had something on her mind and it wasn't good.

"You're suspicious of this." Kaji told her.

"It's some non-profit I've never heard of before that's organizing this concert," Misato said. "Foundation for a Better World."

Kaji sat leaned back in his seat…"I've definitely not heard of them before. How did Shinji get connected with them?"

"He says that they knew him from his prior performances and issued an invitation: all expenses paid for him and a certain traveling companion. He's becoming a big name now."

"But you're still suspicious," queried Kaji as he popped another sushi in his mouth.

"Call it woman's intuition, perhaps just a little too good to be what it seems up front. Anyway, I hate to mix work and home matters…"

Kaji headed her off at the pass. "I'll have Sasuki-chan look into it tomorrow and see if there's anything to worry about," he told her. "Was that all?"

"One more thing: I'm ovulating."

"Oh," Kaji said with surprised eyebrows. "And I suppose you want something done about that, too?"

Misato crossed her arms and smiled. "The thought had crossed my mind. And excuses about work and headaches and such are not acceptable tonight."

There was a twinkle in Kaji's eyes. "I'm quite sure I'm up to the challenge."

* * *

When Rei woke up in the morning the rain had abated, and sun shone out of the windows of her loft. Rei lifted herself out of bed to see that the curtains she normally covered the windows with had been drawn aside to fully let the sunlight into the room.

She turned her attention to the kitchenette and there she saw Erin, still dressed in her loaned oversized t-shirt, walking towards her with a tray with tea and toast. There was the pleasant scent of warmed bread in the air of the loft.

Erin presented the tray to Rei and she gently took a teacup along with a slice of toast, while Erin set the tray down on a nightstand and took the other cup and piece of bread. "Good morning," she greeted her.

Rei took a small sip of her tea, then replied "good morning."

"You seemed to be sleeping pretty sound, so I didn't want to wake you. But this came in early this morning." Erin presented Rei with her satellite phone. There was a message light on it, so Rei took the phone and paged to the messages app. Within the app there was one unread message from a name she didn't recognize, a Darren McKenzie of Whitehorse Inuit Territory, but Rei suspected she knew who really sent the text. The message read:

MANAGED TO SWIPE SOMEONES PHONE SO I'M SENDING THIS OUT TO BOTH OF YOU WHILE I CAN. I FINISHED THE SURVIVAL COURSE SO I GUESS I'LL PASS FROZEN AND ALL. WILL BE BACK IN USA IN A WEEK. LOVE YOU BOTH BYE.

"Forri-kun!" Rei exclaimed.

"Yeah, I got that about 5:30 in the morning," Erin told her. "I thought to wake you but figured you were still so out of it that I'd wait until you woke up. There's no other message than that anyway."

"So he's coming back then?"

"Sounds like he survived, so yeah."

Rei closed her eyes in relief. While she knew Patrick was very capable of taking care of himself, the reputation of Camp X being deathly dangerous had given her much reason to worry for his well-being. The news of his return in one piece was welcome indeed.

"Can't wait to see him, can you?" Rei looked up at Erin with a slight smile on her face and nodded.

"Well, tell you what? I really owe you for last night. I mean you shared something with me that I guess was pretty hard for you, wasn't it?" Erin continued. "So, I mean to pay you back. Today, we're going to get you ready for Patrick's return. You're going to be happy to see him when he comes back, right?" Rei again nodded.

"And, um, you're gonna _show_ him just how happy you are, right?" Erin's implied meaning was clear to Rei, clear enough that she began to blush brightly red in embarrassment.

Erin sat down on the bed next to Rei, feeling as cheerful as she'd not been in quite a while. "So let's start getting you all prettied up, because you're going to give him a night that he'll _never_ forget!"

* * *

A few days later the rainy weather returned to Cambridge, and to keep out of the storm that morning Rei again sat in the student café reading before classes. Erin hadn't joined her that day as she had her work schedule at the campus computer center to fulfill, so Rei remained alone in the café and spent another hour there simply reading and drinking hot tea when she noticed that she was being watched by someone other than her security detail. She glanced up from her book, expecting to see Zummy as it was he who normally showed up this time of the day. But it wasn't Zummy who stood in front of her but instead it was Diego, Erin's now former boyfriend.

Rei looked up at Diego. The young man was a mess, his clothes drenched from the cold rain outside, his curly black hair wet, but most of all noticeable to Rei was the boy's facial expression. He wasn't just sad but seemed more afraid to her. _Upon seeing him so disheveled now I'm curious about what Forri-chan did to Diego once she found out her secret was exposed._

She continued to glance at him while Diego met her glance with sad black eyes. He said nothing to her as he stood there, and finally Rei needed to break the silence if only to find out Diego's true intentions of being there.

"Can I help you?" Rei asked him.

"I have a letter," he replied in a trembling voice.

 _His efforts are pointless_. "I do not think Forri-chan will accept anything from you," Rei said to him.

"This letter," Diego replied, still trembling, "is not for her." Without saying anything further, he removed a white envelope from his inside jacket pocket and then carefully laid it on the table in front of Rei. Without saying anything further Diego turned around and hustled out of the café, barely avoiding an incoming student as he pushed his way out of the glass front doors.

Rei waited until Diego was out of sight and then picked up the envelope. He had laid the envelop with the seal facing upwards, and when Rei turned it around she saw a string of Japanese characters hand written on it. The kanji characters were written very neatly, with black ink in the manner of a formal communication.

AYANAMI-SAMA

Rei glanced again to see if Diego had somehow returned but he was nowhere to be seen. She then gently opened up the envelope to see a single page, written by black ink on extremely high-quality paper. The letter was a message directed to her, and she carefully read it once and then again, and then again.

 _Oh, no!_

* * *

 _After a few real-world driven delays we have another chapter out, as the fallout from Erin's breakup with Diego starts to unfold. While this chapter may seem fairly low key, there are some strategic moves taking place that will have a big impact later on. Things are picking up._


	10. Black Swan

Patrick's last day of training was a considerable contrast to his first one. He had showed up to Canada three months earlier with only his travelling clothes and a small backpack, and had handed his mobile phone along with the rest of this gear when he was inducted with the only exception being his LCL stabilizer medication. The time after that had been a blur of bustle, pain, and freezing cold but he had run the course. Twenty-five selected candidates, about two thirds men and one third women, had started and he was among the final ten that had finished.

On the final day the graduates were treated to a formal dinner hosted by the vice director of Alliance intelligence, Peter Stephenson, who had travelled from Japan to congratulate the finalists and brief each of them on their future careers with the agency. Each agent, dressed in a finely-tailored suit that was also a gift for graduating, met with the number two leader in the agency and reviewed their performance as well as discussed what was next for each of them. In Patrick's case because of his young age and performance (at seventeen he was the youngest of the agent candidates, and had placed third in the final rankings of the graduates), the stated plan was that he continue his education but also be available for missions "as needed," and Patrick wasn't quite sure when "as needed" was going to be.

The following morning Patrick was given back his backpack and travel clothes, and found out that his old outfit jacket wore a little loose on him. He had lost about ten kilograms in three months, and what remained of him was muscle, much more than he had ever had before. He was really beginning to like the feeling of being strong and agile like he was now. Once he received his backpack Patrick immediately pulled out the mobile phone and charger, and after plugging it into a wall outlet in the agency office in Quebec (where he had been discharged) Patrick called Rei first but her phone didn't pick up, instead going straight to her voice mail. Patrick left a message that he was done with training and then called Erin. She picked up immediately.

"Hey!" Erin shouted. "You're out!"

"Yup. Finally made it."

"So, how's it feel?"

"It's good to be warm again. They dropped us off in Charlevoix City here in Quebec, so I'm just a few blocks from the rail station. I'll be on a train to you in about a half an hour, and I should be in Cambridge by tonight."

"Great!"

"How's Rei? She didn't pick up when I called."

"She's probably at the spa."

"The spa!?"

"Getting ready for you," answered Erin. "We got a message yesterday from Misato that you had graduated, so Rei started getting herself prettied up early this morning. You've got a big surprise waiting when you get into town."

"Oh, really?"

"Oh, yeah. I helped a bit too, the outfit is something I picked out so you can thank me later."

"I can't wait then. So I'm getting in about 8 o'clock…."

"Then I'll set up the arrangements, go straight to the Grand Hotel first. Don't come to the apartment. You know that French restaurant on the top floor? The really fancy one?"

"Bon Ami '16? Yeah, I scoped it out for a date until, well, you know."

"She'll be there waiting for you, and brother dear?"

"Yes?"

"I don't want to see you until the following morning. You get my meaning?"

 _I sure do._ "Loud and clear."

"Thanks. Can't wait to see you. Bye!"

The train ride from Quebec to Cambridge was a nice, slowly-paced ten hours, which gave Patrick enough time to catch up on things after being in the deep isolation of Camp X. On the way, he used his phone to message several friends to reconnect, starting with the Vinson family and then working his way through. The Admiral sent his congratulations and gifted him a sidearm that he could pick up the next time Patrick was at the lake house. Kaji and Misato also sent separate congratulations, and Kaji's assistant Satsuki sent a much more business-like email with an attached set of official employment documents for his review. There was also a copy of a bank draft for US$30,000, which was his initial signing bonus and pay after completing the course and being inducted as a commissioned agent, which made him feel good as now he was earning what he hoped was honest money. Patrick also made contacts with the other remaining pilots to see how they were, although he didn't mention his training to any of them except for Mari. Within about an hour he got replies from most of them, happy to hear from him except for Asuka who was grumpy as usual and just sent a curt reply of "That's nice," and nothing more. But Mari didn't reply at all.

 _I wonder if they've got her on a mission_ , Patrick wondered. It was logical that Mari wouldn't get back to him if she was undercover or away on something important. _Just hope she's okay wherever she is._

It didn't take much time for him to catch up socially so after being served breakfast on the train Patrick allowed himself to relax in the First Class car and enjoy the leisurely ride through the Adirondack mountains, still covered in snow. In his seat he leaned back and let his mind slowly drift for the first time in months.

 _I don't want to see you until the morning, Erin said. When I left Cambridge Rei was still in therapy with Doctor Foch. Was that successful? If she got the ovary transplant or whatever they were doing then maybe everything else is working as well by now. Which means…._

Patrick loosened this necktie and as he looked out at the snowy mountains in the window of the train car let himself give in to flights of fancy with dreams about spending the night with his beautiful swan.

* * *

The train arrived into Cambridge station about ten minutes behind schedule and Patrick stepped out with his suitcase into the city illuminated by the bright lights of the station and the city around it. The full moon hung up in the sky on a clear evening that was just a tad chilly for a February in Massachusetts.

Dressed in his gifted grey business suit, Patrick didn't take long to find the Grand Hotel as it was the tallest building in Cambridge Station square at over twenty stories high. It was very close as well, just across the street from the station, and Patrick rolled his suitcase and entered the hotel through the front doors.

After checking the bag with the bell captain, he found the elevators and pushed the button for the top floor. He wasn't alone in the elevator car, as there were at least two other couples dressed in their finery on their way to what was Cambridge's finest dinner establishment.

After a minute-long ride the elevator opened at _Mon Ami '16_ , a French haute cuisine house started by two brothers who saw that Cambridge was booming with the coming of The New Institute and knew it needed a five-star restaurant next door. While neither of the brothers was themselves a chef, they had been managing and owning French restaurants both in Europe and the USA for decades and put their care and energy into the new establishment. The place was well decorated in the style of 19th Century Art Nouveau and had a prime position at the top of the Grand Hotel with large glass windows giving a broad view of Boston Harbor (including the half-sunken remains of The Old City) as well as the lively lit up new Cambridge just below.

Patrick approached the front podium of the restaurant and saw a middle-aged man with balding head and a waxed moustache wearing a tuxedo shirt and black vest. Before he could say anything, the man addressed him.

"Bon soir, monsieur! How may we help you tonight?"

He was unsure as to what to do next. "Um, I think my party is already here, actually. Has there been a young lady with blue hair and red eyes who's come by?"

The matre d' thought for a second. "Do you have a name, perhaps? We only take reservations so it would have to be under a name."

"Try Kaji, please."

The man looked at his tablet and searched for a moment, then found something that seemed to suit. "Ah, yes! We have a party of two for that name that's been seated already. Please come this way." The matre d' promptly picked up a menu and walked inside of the restaurant with Patrick close behind. A din of hushed voices and the sounds of glass and silverware clinking were heard everywhere as they made their way to the edge of dining area, where the restaurant's giant windows looked out over the city and harbor. Nearly there, Patrick caught a glimpse of his party waiting at a small table by the window and his heart skipped several beats.

Rei was sitting at the table waiting patiently for him to show up. Erin had told Patrick to expect a big surprise and that was definitely what he received, as Rei's appearance had been dramatically transformed.

 _The Black Swan, she's come out tonight!_

She wore a strapless black dress that trailed long in behind and was short-hemmed in front, only going to about mid-thigh. Her legs were wrapped in black-tinted fishnet hose, and she wore black stilettos along with them. Her hair was done up and held back with a decorative tie, but with little whisps of blue-colored curls dangling out by the ears. The cross she normally wore around her neck was gone that evening, replaced with a blue-colored choker. Rei had full makeup on her face, with bright red lipstick and stunning violet eye shadow along with long black lashes to catch Patrick's attention, as well as bright red nail polish on her fingernails. Despite all of this, or because of it Rei stood up by the table with her hands clasped in front of her, embarrassed by the stunned looks Patrick was giving her as he arrived at the table.

"Wow." was the only thing Patrick could get out of his mouth.

"Welcome home," Rei said to him, and approached. Patrick wanted to grab her right at that moment and squeeze her as hard as he could but the public setting of the restaurant restrained him. Instead he contented himself with a hold of her hand and kiss on her lips, which felt like water from an oasis after crossing a desert for months on end. Rei gave him a gentle smile in response.

"Please sit," she beckoned, and Patrick took the seat oppose her at the dining table.

"Um, how long were you waiting?"

"Not long. I asked Forri-chan to make sure you made it here on time."

"Sorry, the train was late." Patrick took a deep breath and looked at Rei again. "You are gorgeous! Did you do all of that yourself?"

"Forri-chan bought me the clothes, and Misato-san gave me some advice on the hair and accessories."

"I'll remember to thank them later."

"I had never been to a spa before, but Forri-chan suggested going before coming here. It was a nice experience."

"Well, it's so good to see you again."  
Rei looked at him curiously. "Forri-kun, you look….larger."

"Larger? You mean _bigger_? I'm pretty sure I'm not fat after these last three months."

"You fit the suit you're wearing very well."

"Yeah, that," answered Patrick as he looked at his own appearance. "This is a pretty nice gift from the agency, yes? I guess they figured we need these sort of clothes now that I'm official and everything."

"So you are a full agent now?"

"Yup, badge and everything," said Patrick, quickly flashing his wallet to Rei that showed a silver-plated oval badge with the Alliance logo imprinted on it. "I'm still considered on probation and they want me to continue in school but be available for jobs and stuff. So I guess it all starts now. How is school, by the way?"

Rei was able to relax just a little with the small talk between them. "Everything is good, mostly the same as before."

"That's good." Patrick took another deep breath. "You know, I'm really hungry actually. We didn't get proper food until that last day so could we get some menus and…"

"I've already ordered for you," Rei cut in.

"Oh, really? Had you been here before?"

"No, although Foch-sensei has come here many times and he suggested a few things. Do you mind?"

"No, no, not at all. I trust you." _That expression she's wearing, it seems so unlike her as if she's really trying to please. I guess she's grateful to have me back after such a long time, but she seems actually nervous for once._

"So, anyway I…" Patrick was again interrupted, this time by the waiter to came with a bottle that he then popped the cork off. "Welcome to our humble restaurant, we have some very special plans for our guests here. I hope you don't mind a little bubbly to start things off with, monsieur?"

"Oh, no, I…" the waiter proceeded to pour the sparking beverage into each of their wine glasses. "Please enjoy and we'll be back soon with the first course." The waiter then left with the bottle, and Patrick immediately went for the wine glass, tasting the contents.

"Champagne," he recognized by sniffing the glass. He winced a little at Rei, who already had her glass up. "Did they change the law on alcohol while I was away?" Patrick whispered to Rei.

"Not that I know of," she told him. "But I don't think anyone bothers them about this here."

"Well, let's take advantage while we can." Patrick replied and then offered his glass. "To…a very beautiful rose tonight," he told Rei. Rei blushed a little more and then raised her glass, clinking with Patrick's. They both then drank, with Rei managing a slight hicckup from the drink while Patrick smoothly downed his. He couldn't help but smile.

"Remember the last time you had champagne at a dinner like this?" he asked her.

She smiled a little. "I could not forget. It put me in the hospital."

"Are you sure you're okay this time?"

"I'll be more careful this time," she replied. "Foch-sensei serves wine at his house so I've been slowly getting used to drinking libations."

This piqued Patrick's curiosity about just what Rei was up to while he was gone. "You have dinner with him a lot?"

"You are not here, and Forri-chan has been busy up until recently," explained Rei, "so often I accept his invitation to dine at his home with him and his wife."

"What's Erin been up to while I've been out?"

"She did not tell you?"  
"Um, no, although I haven't heard the name 'Diego' come up since I got back so I'm assuming that he's not around anymore?"

"There was some trouble and they broke off the relationship," Rei told him factually.

"Figures. He was sort of a jerk anyway, just hope he didn't do anything really stupid first."

Before they could continue the waiter returned to the table with a large plate, on which were a dozen opened-up white and grey oysters mounted on ice. Patrick looked up in astonishment.

"What's this?"  
"Oysters on the half-shell, monsieur," the waiter informed him. "Bon appetite!" The waiter placed the plate on the table and then again left.

 _Oysters?! How the heck do you even eat these?_ "You ordered these?" Patrick asked Rei, and she nodded affirmatively. Now he was very confused.

"You _eat_ these now?"

"No," she told him. "They're for you."

 _How to eat this? I don't want to embarrass myself, especially here but I have no frigging clue how you do this._ Patrick looked at the raw seafood and saw the tools at hand: tiny forks, a liquid dip that smelled like watermelons, and Tabasco Sauce.

"I think these go like this." Patrick took one oyster on his hand and then gently dug at it with the mini-fork, then once scooping it he dunked it into the dip and then ate it, chewing it first. The taste came out very salty and slimy.

"Weird," he said after his first one. "Did Foch-sensei recommend this?"

"Yes," replied Rei. "He said it's known to improve male virility." Patrick was in the middle of his second oyster when he heard that and dropped the oyster on the plate, making a loud clanging sound.

"Was _that_ why you ordered this?"

"Yes," Rei replied calmly.

"Um, Angel?" Patrick asked nervously. "Did, um, anything else happen while I was away?"

"I had an operation."

Patrick was about to say something and then remembered what Rei mentioned before he had left for training, and what she whispered in his year. _The ovary transplant. The therapies. Had something changed?_

"Successful?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Oh, um, well…"

"I had my period recently."

"Really?!" Patrick said out loud, then looked around as the eyes of other diners briefly looked in their direction, then turned back to their own tables. "Really?" he whispered again to Rei across the table. Rei again nodded.

"So, um, is everything else, um….functioning?"

Rei again nodded.

Patrick looked at her and saw her eyes, giant red pools that were just staring into him. _She wants to say more, a lot more, but doesn't know how. Honestly I'm not even sure I know what to say either._

"Well, um, anyway let's enjoy dinner and then maybe we can, you know, talk over desert about this."

"Forri-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm wet."

"Oh, goodness! Here, use my napkin!" Patrick offered him his own napkin but Rei didn't take it.

"No, I mean I'm _wet_." It took about a second for that to register in Patrick's mind.

"You…you mean right now?" Rei nodded again.

"Has that ever happened before?"

"Not like this. I think it is because you are here."

 _The balloon just went up_. Patrick marshalled up all of his confidence. "I think we should do something about this, perhaps sooner than later. Unfortunately I didn't book a room here…" Rei then reached into her handbag and showed Patrick a key card.

 _That's it._ "Then no time like the present." Patrick waived his hand until the waiter arrived at their table.

"Yes, monsieur, can I help you?"

"Check, please." The waiter looked aghast.

"But monsieur! We have only just begun the dinner! You cannot leave now!"

"Um, well we have a pressing engagement and unfortunately need to get going a bit early, so if you don't mind…"

"I _absolutely_ mind!" the waiter admonished. "Just what kind of establishment do you think this is?"

"Look, _Garcon_ , um, something's come up…."

"This is disgraceful! I am shocked that you would simply leave so early without even trying out the rest of the meal."

Patrick tried being nice to wrangle them out of this situation. "I'm sure it's wonderful, and truthfully I really wanted to eat all of it tonight but we're having a sort of emergency here and need to sort of _jump_ on this as quickly as I can. Hey, I'll pay the check for the full meal no problem! If that's what you're worried about."

The waiter was indignant. "This is not about _money_ , good sir. This is about the reputation of the finest French restaurant in New England, and in perhaps all of America. Do you realize how much effort we have put into this place? Do you know that we have been running restaurants here for thirty years and have never closed? Even during the period after Second Impact we kept the doors open! You have absolutely no idea how difficult that was and then you just decided to, um, walk out of here without even tasting anything…"

 _This guy seriously goes to extremes._ "Look, this is really important."

"And so is this establishment, you can't just walk out of here and refuse our cuisine at the drop of a hat."

 _What do I do here, just flash my brand new badge and then just impose my way out? Or maybe I just appeal to this guy's vanity._

Patrick turned to Rei. "Angel? Do you have a pen and paper handy?"

"I have a pen." Patrick then leaned over the table and whispered something in Rei's ear.

"Which one?" she asked for clarification. "Your real one," Patrick answered quietly, and then Rei promptly reached into her pocketbook and took out a ball point pen as the waiter continued his tirade.

"Look, look," Patrick said to him, trying to calm him down. "I get it. You guys are great! Believe me, we know about this place and have it on good reference that your food is good. The truth is, however, that we're here on very important business. Angel, can you show me please?" Rei put down her pen after writing on one of the dinner napkins on the table, and Patrick took it and showed the waiter.

"Do you see this?" he told the waiter in hushed tones. "This is the authentic signature of the First Child, Miss Rei Ayanami herself. Here, have a look?" Rei had indeed autographed the napkin with her name, written both in Japanese characters and in English. The waiter was skeptical at first, but then took a good look at Rei herself as Patrick went on.

"So we're here on very important business and we've just run into some, well, critical issue that we have to take care of immediately. And believe me, your restaurant is terrific. If we had the time I would order escargot and chateaubriand and beef wellington and all of that and douse it all down with a whole bottle of Dom Perigion but right now we have to go. Now Rei here doesn't give out autographs for security reasons, so what you're holding there is pretty rare, and I'd also have to think worth a lot of money, yes?"

The water took another good look at the napkin and then also again studied Rei, noting that she was calmly standing in front of him clutching her handbag. He wondered just how real this was but the two young adults in front of him seemed too poised and too well dressed for the children of rich parents out for a dinner who just wanted to ditch early. Still he was unsure until the Matre d' came by and gladly took the napkin out of the waiter's hands.

"Monsieur, it will be our pleasure to receive this," the matre d' told Patrick with a smile. "Don't worry about anything else, please just go and enjoy the rest of your evening and we will see you back another time."

"Great, thanks!" replied Patrick excitedly, taking the matre d's hand and vigorously shaking it. "Gotta go! Adieu and all that, goodbye!" Patrick then let go and took Rei's hand and the two of them made a quick pace out of the restaurant, with the curious glances of most of the diners following them out the doorway.

The water was left standing by the table next to a half-eaten plate of raw oysters. "What was that about?"  
"Do you remember the old doctor with the cane?" The matre d' asked. "The one with the pretty wife with blonde hair?"

"Yes, of course. Frequent customer. Always orders Cognac after dinner."

The Matre d' showed his brother, the waiter, a business card that pulled out from his jacket. "NERV," he told his brother. The waiter read the official business card of Dr. Bernard Foch from his days at NERV's Second Branch, something that the matre d' had kept when he had realized the importance of what the doctor was involved in.

"You, my dear brother, have just brushed with history."

* * *

Hands joined together, Rei and Patrick ran out of the restaurant and into the elevator across from it. They weren't alone, as there was a middle-aged Asian woman dressed in expensive clothes already standing there. Without letting go of Patrick, Rei quietly selected the floor of her room and then the two of them leaned back against the elevator car and waited.

There was a palatable, awkward silence as the doors closed and the elevator car zoomed downward. Patrick and Rei both glanced around the car and the other passenger, who ignored them in boredom and waited for the car to arrive at her floor. At the sixteenth floor the doors opened and the woman left, and the couple waited anxiously for the doors to close.

Once shut Patrick swung Rei into his arms and she immediately put her hands to his face, holding him and giving him a deep kiss. Patrick held her tighter and continued the kisses, each one of them being deeper and wetter and releasing the passions of the two of them. He looked at her in her eyes, not saying it but thinking the words _Finally_. She knew what he meant and gently nodded, and the two of them went back to kissing.

The elevator door slid open at the seventh floor, and still holding hands the two of them ran out.

"Which room is it?" Patrick asked Rei. She didn't give him the number but instead led him by the hand at a jog. "This way."

As they went down one of the hallways Patrick saw Dylan standing there, dressed in a black suit with his earpiece on. _So this was all planned, then. I hope they weren't listening in on us._

"'Evening, Dylan," Patrick said in a quick breath as he hurried. Dylan just gave him a slight wave, knowing the boy had more important things to attend to.

"Good seeing you, kid. Have a nice night!"

It took a few more steps and then they were at the room, and Rei quickly pulled out her key again and waived it at the door. The locked opened and she grabbed Patrick by the hand and pulled him inside.

The room was dark except for the sliver of city lights that were reflected from the main window through the drawn curtains, but in the shadows he could see Rei close to him and again drew her tight against him. The two of them kissed and kissed again, and Patrick didn't really have a plan for what would happen next but only hoped it would happen soon.

Rei broke off the last kiss and gently put her hand on Patrick's chest. "Go slow," she whispered and Patrick took a deep breath as she took a few steps back. Patrick's vision adjusted to the darkness and he could see her more clearly now as Rei stepped back from him and let him glance at her in the shadows of the room.

"Forri," she spoke to him softly, "come here, please." Patrick slowly walked over to where she was, kicking off his shoes as he did so. Rei's heels had already come off and she then pivoted to face the outside window, showing her back to him.

"Can you unzip this please?"

Patrick was happy to do so, and gently took the zipper of Rei's dress and slid it downward. A second later her clothes dropped to the floor. Rei's strapless bra was now visible, and without being asked Patrick gently undid the hooks in the bra, unfastening them with just a little trouble with one clatch. The black lace brassiere then dropped to the floor and he was looking and touching Rei's bare back.

She turned around, and Patrick could see her breasts. Shapely and firm and sized "just right" he figured, with her nipples erect in the cool air of the room. Rei looked up at him and using her fingers gently removed his sportscoat, then went after his necktie. Patrick helped her untie it, and after she undid it she started to slowly unbutton his shirt as Patrick gently caressed the soft skin of her arms. It didn't take her long to have the full shirt off and it too glided to the floor. Rei took a deep breath and let her hands feel Patrick's chest, and then she put herself against him as he held her tightly.

"I missed you," she told him.

"Me too," he replied at a whisper.

"You _are_ bigger now," Rei commented.

"Yeah, I got quite the workout these last few months." Rei held a thought to herself and confided that she had picked the best time to do this. Again, she gently pushed away and glided backwards just a few steps. She was more light on her feet this time, and Patrick could see her as the Swan, beckoning to her lover. Rei's movements gave that impression as well, as her hands gently floated in the air and then she stood in front of Patrick and looked straight at him. With one push she slid off her fishnet tights, revealing only the smallest sign of black lace remaining on her. Patrick didn't come to her at first but seeing that this was all a mating dance he too dropped his pants to the floor. Then there was the snap of elastic and her panties slid to the floor, and then Patrick saw all of her.

 _This is going to happen after all_. Patrick followed suit, removing the rest of his own clothes, although taking off his socks proved awkward. _Note to self: don't wear socks on nights like this_. But within another half-minute he was finally stripped and ready.

Rei gently moved forward and towards him and now Patrick let his passions slip. He went for a kiss again, and this time let his hands travel all over her body, lingering on her breasts and gliding down her back and around her trim buttocks. Rei put her hands over his neck and gave him kiss after kiss, and then let her own hands feel his chest, gently touching Patrick's nipples and giving him a sudden sensation from her touch. He could see how hard he had become, and that part was now pressing against her own skin. Patrick just hoped that he wouldn't explode before they reached the bed.

But a dreadful thought came bubbling up to his brain and Patrick blurted it out. "Oh, gosh!" he said out loud. "I didn't bring a…"

Rei immediately knew what he meant and before he could finish the sentence, she pounded him not so gently on the arm.

" _Baka!"_ she said to him in sudden frustration. "I _want_ to get pregnant!"

 _Lucky me._ The confidence came back to his face. "Then let's get started!" Patrick gathered Rei up in his muscular arms and carried her over to the bed, which was only a few steps away. Gone were all of the worries and frustrations of the complications of Rei's physical nature, now all had finally been set right and it was just a time for themselves.

Patrick lay her on the bed and let his hands glide over her body as she looked at him. She was beautiful naked, he decided, and he wanted to explore that body and she was more than willing to let him do it. He touched her on he breasts and gently kissed her nipples as Rei closed her eyes and felt the sensation reach deep in her like lightening. Her breaths became short and deep as she was aroused by Patrick's touch. His hands went further down her body, finally reaching that spot he had longed to touch. Her skin was very soft and supple, with no trace of hair, and Rei quivered as he gently caressed her there.

"Is that okay?" he whispered to her. Rei nodded and smiled, and he touched her some more and felt the heat and moisture inside of her.

 _It's time_. Patrick put his knees on the bed and faced her. Rei looked up at him and took his hands into hers. She wanted this too, he knew.

"I love you," Patrick whispered to her.

"I love you too," she replied.

Patrick leaned over and kissed her again, preparing himself for the big moment. She smiled at him but then suddenly there was a change in her expression.

"What is it?"

Rei didn't answer right away but instead look at him fearfully. Her hands began to shake.

"Something is wrong," she said.

Patrick was about to ask what but Rei suddenly let out a cry, pulling her hands away and moving them towards her midsection. She cried again and Patrick touched her and noticed that her body was quivering and felt cold.

"What's going on?"

"The implants, they're…" Rei cried out again in pain.

For a half-second Patrick worked to reduce the panic in his mind. He had been trained how to handle such things in the prior three months and had to find a way to take what he was now facing and make something work out of it. But this was Rei, his living treasure, nothing was more important than what happened to her. That thought gave him purpose enough.

He rushed to his suit coat and pulled out his mobile phone. It was still turned on, switched to silent mode but he quickly ran down the speed dial numbers to reach the security detail's call in line, hoping that they hadn't switch the phone number in the last three months. As he waited for the line to ring Patrick rushed over to Rei and found a blanket on the bed, and immediately covered her with it.

"Lifeguard," the voice came on at the other end.

"Medical Emergency. Grand Hotel room 707. Need Medevac now!"

"On the way," the voice calmly replied.

Patrick kept the line open but tossed the phone down on the bed. He knew the alert would call in Rei's security detail down the hall and around the hotel, so he went to grab his slacks and drag them on. He was still getting his belt on when Dylan burst through the front door followed by a female agent.

"What's going on?" asked the agent.

"She's having a seizure of some kind from her implants," Patrick told him as he finished putting on his slacks. "I need to get her to Dr. Foch right away."

"Got it." Dylan then spoke on his radio earpiece. "Medevac for ANGEL stat." He paused for a moment and then relayed the answer to Patrick while he put his coat on.

"They're already on the way, ETA two minutes on the roof."

Patrick rushed to Rei and after making her the blanket wrapped around her was secure lifted her up in his arms. Her skin was much more pale than normal, sheet white to be precise. And her face was contorted in pain with sweat dripping down her brow.

"Angel, we're getting you help, okay. Hang in there!" Dylan then led the way out of the hotel room as Patrick followed barefoot with Rei in his arms, while the remaining agent picked up their items in the hotel room.

Jogging towards the elevators, Dylan keyed the "UP" button and then the group waited very impatiently for an elevator car to appear, Patrick all the while focused on Rei who was now barely conscious. The doors slid open and Dylan quickly went to the controls, taking out a firefighters' key and using it to gain control, then pushing the button for roof access. The three of them climbed up to the top floor in the next minute and a half.

Once at the top they raced towards the helicopter, a European-made EC-135 air medevac. The rear doors were swung open with a paramedic standing by as they carried Rei over. Patrick handed her over to the paramedic who then laid her down the bottom of two gurneys and immediately started checking her vital signs. Patrick and Dylan then piled into the chopper.

"We'll take her to Alliance Base hospital!" Dylan shouted to Patrick over the rotor and engine noise.

"No!" he protested. "Go to the Artificial Evolution Lab at NIT! Foch will need to see her there!"

"Patrick, it's protocol. She'll be okay at the hospital."

"It's an EVA thing, Dylan," was Patrick's reply and that was all he needed.

"I get it, then. Okay, we divert. Get strapped in." Patrick found a seat opposite the gurney with harnesses and then strapped in while Dylan closed the rear doors of the chopper.

"How is she?"

The paramedic looked concerned. "BP is way down, we got to get her stabilized soon." Patrick glared at Dylan.

"Fuck it, kid, I know." Dylan then gave the thumbs up to the pilot and the chopper immediately lifted off as he strapped in the co-pilot's seat. "NIT Labs, now please." He instructed over the headset and the pilot maneuvered towards the New Institute campus close by.

Patrick looked at Rei, her face still in anguish. "Hang on there, Angel," he encouraged in a soft voice as he caressed her hair. _Dear God please let Foch save her from whatever this is._

The Artificial Evolution Laboratory was located several stories down from the ground floor, and the helicopter needed to be landed next to the front door of the building to access it. Together the paramedic, Dylan, and Patrick lifted Rei onto a wheeled gurney and then ran her from the helicopter towards the front doors of the building.

After moving through corridors they found a secondary access door that was normally hidden from public view. Standing there was Doctor Foch and his wife Beatrix, both of them in overcoats worn over sleeping clothes. As soon as the gurney reached Foch he took out a penlight and shone it in Rei's eyes.

"What happened?" he asked Patrick.

"She just suddenly went cold and into chills and then screaming out in pain," he explained.

"Oh, dear. Let's get her down." Foch then led the way through the open doorway and into a cargo elevator as Patrick and the others followed him in.

* * *

 _I spent a little longer on this chapter as this is something of a pivotal moment, and know that a lot of readers really wanted to see this happen. Of course, there's complications and what should be a happy moment gets turned into a very dark one in a snap._

 _In writing the Blue Rose stories, I've never taken Rei's sexuality lightly and have always tried to have considerable respect for the character while being realistic about the circumstances of her origin and creation. While the original EVA work gives us little to go on, we're informed that Rei is infertile, perhaps made deliberately so by her creators. There's a certain logic to that: why would you want to enable Evangelions to be capable of getting pregnant? That seems like a rather dangerous path. Yet Rei is not simply a "mini-copy" of an EVA but rather a young woman becoming increasingly independent and self-aware. And like many women she has a strong will towards motherhood and wishes a way to fulfill it._

 _So Rei faces this contradiction between spirit and flesh and to a large extent this drives the conflict within her. She wants to be a mother, but she's stuck with this synthetic body that's not quite completely human. It's also no accident that Rei, as the clone of Yui Ikari (the ideal mother figure of EVA herself) inherits much of Yui's own drive in this regard. I think this lends a pretty strong extra dimension to her character, no?_

 _I did a fair amount of research into infertility and physical disfunctions to see what had some basis in real-world medicine, to at least give this a more grounded approach than simply using anime physics (or biology) to come up with the answer. Also, while it may seem unusual for someone quite young to deliberately seek out a pregnancy, the truth is that if the opportunity is limited you take it at the best possible chance. This happens in the real world too, as young women with dangerous medical conditions such as cancer often seek out ways to get pregnant while they possibly can, even if they're in their teens, because they may simply not have the opportunity to do it later. Perhaps that's natural drive or evolution in action, but it happens despite what we would think would be "common sense."_

 _I'll be sure to not wait too long on the next chapter. Enjoy._


	11. Broken Loose

Patrick was left sitting in the laboratory's office for several hours and Foch and Beatrix worked on Rei in an adjoining operating room. Dylan had sat with him for a little while but then went back to meet up with the other team members while another other agent briefly appeared with the remainder of Patrick's and Rei's belongings and clothes from the hotel room. Patrick got himself better dressed and then kept the rest of the items with him while he waited.

He didn't know what to think. For months all he had wanted, all he had used to motivate himself to get through the hell of winter training was to be Rei just like he was this night. But nature wouldn't allow it, so it seemed to him. Now he was not even sure if she would survive given that Foch was spending several hours with her in the operating room with no word. She would not be the same again, that was for sure.

At about One o'clock Patrick heard footsteps down the outside corridor and stood up, and Erin came through the doorway. She was wearing a tan-colored winter coat and white scarf over a sweater and blue jeans and high boots. They immediately embraced on seeing each other.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I think her implants got messed up," Patrick told her. "It's not good."

Huddled next to each other, the two of them silently waited another hour until Foch came out, blood smeared on his hospital gown. The expression on his face was hard, his face drained with exhaustion.

Erin spoke up first. "Is she…okay?"

Foch paused and then spoke to both of them. "I had to remove the implants," he told them solemnly. "Apparently there were rejected by her body."

"Why now?" Erin asked. "She had the surgery a couple of months ago."

"I understand and at this early stage I'm unsure of the causes, she did look quite well even yesterday."

"It was my fault," Patrick spoke up. "We were gonna, well you know…"

"I wouldn't blame yourself, boy," was Foch's response. "We're dealing with many unknowns here, the science is very groundbreaking in and of itself. It's simply possible that the organs just failed."

"Will she be alright?" asked Erin.

"She'll go into recovery and we'll watch her carefully, but right now she's stable."

"Can I see her?" Patrick asked.

"Not now. I need to keep her under observation here at the lab for a little while. I suggest the two of you go home and rest, and I'll contact you later in the day as to what we know."

The twins spent the morning and the remaining day in their apartment, as Patrick paced the living room floor while waiting for the phone. Most of the afternoon had passed until Foch called, and only to say that Rei was stable but still unable to see anyone that he would try to bring her back home soon. Erin then called Misato to keep her informed, explaining everything that had happened so far.

"I'm sorry to hear all of this," was Misato's reply. "I know that meant a lot of her."

"Yeah. Uncle Bernard still doesn't know the actual cause but says they would have to start from the beginning if Rei's willing to try again."

"Have you seen her?"

"No, and Uncle Bernard tells us it's not a good idea right now. Patrick's tearing his hair out over all of this, he had just come back from training."

"That's terrible," commented Misato. "I'll see if I can contact Rei directly through Foch-sensei, and hopefully she'll be able to at least talk to me. But let her know that I want to reach her if you see her first."

"Will do, Misato-san."

"If she's not feeling up to school I might just take her back to Japan once she's able to travel, let her rest at home for a while. Keep me posted, okay?"

"I will, thanks again!"

Erin hung up and looked at Patrick who had stopped pacing on the carpet and was now collapsed on the living room couch, his eyes boring holes into the ceiling. Erin went over to him and sat on the couch, cradling his head in her lap as he lay there.

"I just don't understand," Patrick said with a weak voice. "Why could this happen now?"

"There's no real answer for that," Erin told him. "Everyone just needs to hang in there."

"I'm beginning to get the idea that maybe the heavens aren't so keen on Rei having a kid after all."

They received another phone call from Dr. Foch the next morning, saying that he would be brining Rei back to his house later that afternoon. Patrick and Erin left early, and spent an hour waiting in the Foch's living room along with Beatrix until the two of them returned.

Finally by five o'clock Foch's car pulled into his garage and he entered the house, gently guiding Rei along with him. Patrick stood up and faced her as did Erin and saw not the Rei they had gotten to know over these last few years, but instead a distressed and limp-looking girl with straggly blue hair plunging downward who was taking very unsure steps into the house. She was dressed in her blue pajamas and a dark red bathrobe, and had on a wool cap and scarf to keep her warm in the winter cold.

"We're home, Madame!" Foch called out as Beatrix rushed from the kitchen and then helped Rei make it into the house. Patrick wanted to embrace her but after seeing her and seeing the trembling of her whole body as she walked, he knew she was in fact very physically weak, a stark difference to the Rei he saw three nights prior.

"Rei, are you alright?" Patrick asked. "How do you feel." Rei looked up at him, her deep red eyes quivering with emotion.

"I…I" she struggled to speak and was unable to even finish the sentence.

Patrick took her by the hand as Erin took her other hand, and they both looked to the old doctor. "Will she be okay?" asked Erin.

"As you can see, she's walking but that's about the best of it," Foch said. "There's wounds that need healing and not simply ones on the outside. She needs rest and care and lots of it."

"Rei?" Patrick asked her. "Do you want anything?"

"I…I want to be alone," she got out in a soft, whispering tone. "I want to be alone."

"Okay, okay, we'll let you rest." Patrick was deeply unsettled by all of this and looked again towards the old doctor. "Don't worry, my boy," Foch told him. "We'll do our best with her, but it's best if you can leave her here with us for now. Madame, let's get her upstairs and let her sleep please."

"Of course, darling." Beatrix then gently helped Rei up the staircase as she took her upwards, and Patrick and Erin could do nothing but watch. The entire experience of seeing Rei's spirit so broken was draining enough to bring both to tears.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Erin pleaded with Dr. Foch.

"Her body will heal in a few weeks," said Foch, "but her heart's broken. That may take the most time of all."

* * *

For three days Patrick remained in the apartment or nearby either his own place or the Foch's house. Erin still had school courses and took them, but with resignation and not enthusiasm, as her own mind was elsewhere worried with Rei's fate.

It had been Patrick's hope that after returning to the campus he could persuade Rei to take a few days off school and actually go travelling together somewhere, perhaps Europe or the Mediterranean. He had thirty days leave from the service after his intensive training before he needed to report to AIS headquarters in Tokyo-3 and wanted to spend as much of that time as he could with both Rei and Erin. The episode with the failure of Rei's fertility organs had brought all of that to a crashing halt and now he spent his leave in frustration and worry.

Making matters worse was Rei's incommunicado: she had switched off her mobile phone and didn't reply to any other attempts to reach her, including directly going over to the Foch's house and asking to see her. He would make a short trip to the house twice a day, once in the morning and once at night, to see how Rei was doing and each and every time he would ask to see her. Usually Beatrix was alone in the house and each time she went upstairs to check on Rei, and every time she would return Rei's message to Patrick: No.

Patrick determined that he simply needed to be patient despite this, so while he was back at their apartment he kept at puzzles in his bedroom and catching up with Erin in the meanwhile, but also asked the security detail to let him know if Rei ever left the Foch's house for any reason. He wasn't trying to stalk her _per se_ but knew that maybe she was still shell-shocked from the defeat she just had and that all that might be needed to break her out of it was some sort of face-to-face interaction. Patrick also knew that Rei's incommunicado also applied to her extended family, as both Misato and Shinji had related to him that she wouldn't take their phone calls as well as not reply to their emails, and it was concerning enough to Misato for her to plan a trip to Cambridge within the next couple of days to check on her health and return her to Japan if she was healthy enough to travel.

After a fourth day there was finally a break in the routine, as Dylan related to Patrick that Rei would be moving from the Foch's house back to her loft. Once he heard this Patrick darted from their apartment and then practically ran over to the Fochs' in order to see her.

Partrick just barely caught her, as Rei, bundled up in a knit sweater and scarf with a long plaid skirt and boots and a wool cap over her head, slowly made her way up the stairs to her loft behind the Fochs' house. Her hair was still straggly and to Patrick looked like she had barely brushed it.

"Rei!" Patrick called out to her as he reached the wooden stairs leading up to her loft. Rei, who was nearly at the top, slowly turned around. Patrick saw her face and could tell she was still not well rested, with dark circles under her eyes and a drained look overall. He couldn't ever recall seeing her worn out in such a way since he had known her.

"Rei?" he asked. "Can I come up?" She didn't reply and didn't say anything as he walked up the stairs to reach her.

"How do you feel?" Patrick asked when he made it to where she was standing. "Are you alright?" Rei didn't say anything at all, instead just looking at him, her red eyes quivering.

"Can you at least talk?" he asked again, nearly whispering. "Everyone is so worried about you."

"I cannot do this," Rei replied in a soft tone.

"Do what?"

"Be human," she told Patrick. "I wanted to. I tried to. But I am unable to."

"Because of this? Of what happened?," he replied as he took her hand. "Angel, there's more to life than just being able to have kids."

"It is not just because of this matter," Rei said, "But I am incompatible with you, and with everyone else."

"That's not true! You're…"

"I can no longer pretend to be something that I am not," she declared as she withdrew her hand from his. "I wanted to be happy, and for a time I was. But this body will not allow me to fully reach this."

"You suffered a setback, a big one no doubt," Patrick said in trying to be encouraging. "But that's no reason to give up! We've faced worse troubles than this, you know that."

"I don't think I'm in the right place," she told him. "I don't think this is suitable for me."  
"You just need to rest and recover from this. And then we try again."

Rei looked at him sadly with her red eyes. "I no longer wish to have a relationship with you."

Patrick paused at that and knew that it wasn't the lack of emotions but rather overflowing emotions that was causing Rei to make such a statement. _Don't fight, don't be aggressive, just try to understand her._

"But I'm still here for you," he told her. "Despite everything. I'll always still be here for you."

"I know that you will keep trying to be. That is in your nature. But my nature is incompatible with you, and that will never change. It is time for us to end." She told him.

"I'm not going to give up on you!" Patrick said.

"You should consider a relationship with Illustrious-san, she is more compatible with you," Rei told him. "Please do not contact with me further."

"And what about Erin, and Shinji and Asuka and Misato?" said Patrick? "Are you going to close them off too? None of them have heard from you and they're worried sick. Misato's even coming out her to make sure you're okay. What about _them_?"

"It is time for me to go the way I was meant to, so please leave me alone" Rei told him, then turning towards her front door she opened it up and stepped inside. " _Sayanora_ ," she said to Patrick and then she closed the door suddenly before he could prop it open.

 _Oh, no, she's really plunged downward. It's like her old self just showed up again._ Patrick stood at Rei's front door, debating with himself if he should try to open it and continue to attempt to reason with her, or just leave her be alone as she requested. _It's not the first time she's been like this either, although that was a while ago._ _Rei's really strong but has her weak spots and when those get hit she just plunges downward._

Unsure of what to do but not wanting to abandon the field just yet, Patrick sat down on the stairs in order to wait and to think, and he stayed there for the remainder of the day.

* * *

As her surgical scars were still healing Rei could not take a shower, so she instead stripped down naked and knelt in the bathtub with a pail of water and gently cleaned herself with a sponge. The apartment was eerily quiet, with only the sound being her dunking the sponge into the pail.

While she washed up she saw the scar on her abdomen where Dr. Foch had needed to remove her implants. The sutures had since healed but the red stripe marks were still there. She carefully took the sponge and cleaned around the wound but stopped when she reached the scar itself and put her hands over it.

 _It almost worked. We spent two years researching how to make this body conceive a child, trying different methods and therapies. It almost worked, but in the end this body rejects the effort._

 _Was I a fool to think that I could do this?_

 _The logic behind this is simple. I and the EVA are one. The EVA was never made to have children. It was made as a vessel for humankind, but not to be a person on its own._

 _I thought I could be human. Instead I am more EVA than human, and always will be._

Rei thought deeply in her mind about what would it have been like to have a child. She had lived with Misato while she was pregnant and saw how her child grew inside of her. It was a burden to her, as Misato had to carefully watch her health, and as she became larger and larger it was more cumbersome to her. The birth of her son Akira was very painful, more painful than Rei had ever observed anyone else enduring, but the result was a living child, a human being connected to his mother by flesh and emotion.

Watching Akira grow from a tiny infant to a toddler had been an experience, and Rei had helped with his upbringing considerably while she lived in the Kaji's household. She found that she enjoyed having Akira around immensely, finding it quite fun. Rei felt very comfortable around children, especially small ones, enough to make her reconsider from time to time her career goals into something more mundane than genetics. She had also confirmed that she wanted that experience of childbirth for herself. She wanted to feel it live and grow inside of her, to feel the sucking of the child drinking from her breasts, and to know the love of the child for its mother. Rei had never wanted much for herself, but she knew that she wanted this. But now it was out of her reach, perhaps forever.

Rei knelt in the bathtub and looked at her open hands.

 _This body is cursed. And I hate them for putting me in it. It would have been better to just let me die._

An image came to her eyes of herself. She could see her younger self, tiny yet with short blue hair and red eyes, standing in front and looking up at her. Was it her younger self, the first Rei? _No, this image wasn't her,_ she realized. _It was the Rei that will come after, the Rei that I would create for myself._

Rei looked at the image of the little Rei that appeared in front of her, close enough to reach. The little Rei looked up at her and then asked 'Mommy?"

She reached out to her but the child suddenly disappeared. Was it a ghost or just a fantasy her frazzled mind had created, or something else? The image had felt real somehow and Rei didn't know why, but seeing her vanish proved too much for her. Rei looked down at her hands again and saw teardrops landing on them.

 _Oh no, I wanted this so much. Oh God, why?_

The feelings inside of her proved too much to bear and she plunged her face into her hands and sobbed.

Outside her front door Patrick could hear the crying and knew Rei's heart was broken, perhaps completely. In the years he had known her Patrick had never before seen Rei so sad. He wanted to go to her, to burst through the front door and to hold and comfort her but he could not. There were just some things that Rei needed to be alone for and this was one of them. Instead Patrick remained there on the steps, leaning against her front door but closing his eyes as tears of his own formed. He would give her the solace that she needed, even at the price of his own heart.

* * *

Patrick remained at the door until he quite literally fell asleep, awoken a few hours later only by footsteps up the wooden stairs. Erin, dressed in a winter coat and jeans, was coming up to see him.

"Didn't your training teach you not to freeze to death?" she asked him.

"Oh, um, sorry," Patrick whispered. "I guess I just knocked out."

"How is she?" Erin asked.

"No good. I spoke to her once but she's not letting me closer. So Just figure I'd post myself as guard here. Best I can do." Patrick looked at the closed door of Rei's loft. "I think she finally went to sleep a while ago."

"She'll be okay," encouraged Erin. "Come on, let's go home." She offered him her hand and Patrick took it, standing up off the stairs. Tired and drained, Patrick led Erin lead him back to their apartment.

Inside the loft however Rei was not asleep at all. She had remained silent, listening to Erin retrieve Patrick from the stairs. Once she was sure that they were nowhere close to her apartment Rei then silently went to her desk and retrieved her laptop. She had already dressed into warm clothes after recovering from the bath.

Flipping open the laptop Rei booted it up and waited for it to finish the startup, then went to her school lab portal window. She opened up a private message and started typing.

* * *

The call came in at 2:58 AM, and it took two series of rings before Kaji was awake enough to answer it.

"Hello?" he asked. The voice on the other side was AD Stephenson.

"We have a situation," he told Kaji, using a word that had never come up before. The director immediately sat up in bed, shaking all of the sleep out of his head and rapidly bringing himself to Earth.

"Go ahead," Kaji told him.

"About two hours ago there was a major incident on the outskirts of Old Tokyo, at JHCI's former proving grounds. Do you know what Jet Alone is?"

"Yes. What happened?"

"According to witnesses, at midnight it turned itself on and broke out of its hanger, then started moving northwest."

"Did they notify the Japanese authorities already?"

"Actually the holding company for JHCI has yet to do so. We believe that they're trying to locate the robot and bring it back in safely before the authorities find out. We learned about this because of communication intercepts that we're not supposed to be doing domestically."

"Go ahead and let the Japanese Ministries of Defense and Interior know," Kaji ordered. "Is this all we have so far?"

"I'm afraid so. Can you come in? I think that we'll need all hands on deck for this one."

"Will do."

"Also, sir," said Stephenson, "Perhaps you can alert your friends at NERV as well? Considering they were the ones that resolved the prior time Jet Alone got out of hand they could be needed again."

"Agreed. I'll speak with the liaison from NERV right after I hang up."

"Thank you and we'll see you in the office soon." Stephenson then disconnected the call.

After putting down the phone, Kaji then rolled over the bed towards the NERV liaison who was conveniently sleeping with him on a nightly basis.

"Misato," he whispered as he gently nudged her. Misato groaned a little as she came out of sleep.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Get up, your favorite robot's on the loose." That was more than enough to get Misato's attention.

"Wait, what?"

"Someone broke out Jet Alone tonight," Kaji told her as he left the bed and walked towards the closet to get changed. "You should probably call the Hyugas about this."

"I'm surprised they still kept that thing around," Misato muttered as she sat up from the bed. At that moment little Akira ran into the room followed by PenPen, both of them wearing the same blue and white Doremon-themed pajamas. "Mommy!" the little boy cried out, awakened from his slumber. Misato took him into her arms as PenPen squawked in unison with the boy's cries.

"Do you need to go to the office?" Misato asked Kaji.

"Post haste," he replied with a smile. "Think of this as a Kaiju film in real life."

"Too bad we don't have a giant flying turtle we can just call on."

"No, but we do have some other heroes waiting in the wings. I get the feeling we might actually see them in action again." Kaji put on a jacket over his shirt and slacks, then his mobile phone buzzed again. Misato took it in one hand from the nightstand and gave it to him.

"Yes? Ah, yes, tell him to land in the garden. Careful to mind the koi pond, thanks."

"Nice of them to send you a helicopter," Misato quipped, holding Akira as she stood up from the bed. By this point Akira had stopped crying but was curious about why the grownups were awake so late at night.

"Daddy go?" Akira asked his mother.

"Yup, Daddy's got work to do! And after he goes we can all eat ice cream!"

"Yeah!"

"And Mommy and PenPen can share a beer!" Akira had a confused look on his face after that but paid his mom no mind and then squirmed to get out of her arms and back on the floor with his playmate.

Kaji looked at Misato and grinned. "I'm off to save the world again," he told her. She put her arms around him and smiled.

"Well, here's your send-off, so good luck and I'll keep the bed warm for you," She then gave him a deep kiss, long and slow.

"That'll be my primary motivation, I assure you," he said as he smirked.

The group of them all went down the house stairs to the first floor, where Kaji moved toward the patio doors. In the middle of the house grounds a black-painted S-76J helicopter started to lower itself towards the large garden in the Kaji's spacious back yard, giving a strong wake of winds from the helicopter's rotors.

"Daddy, daddy!" Akira called out and Kaji took him in his arms. "You be good!" he said to him, gently rubbing him on his head and kissing the boy's forehead. He got a quick hug from Akira and then Kaji gently lowered him to the floor, leaving him and Misato behind as he made his way to the helicopter. "Ciao" he said to Misato just as he went out the sliding patio door. The group of them waved bye to him, including PenPen who waived a wing in the air.

Misato watched as Kaji boarded the helicopter from the side door and then one of the aircrew slid the door shut. She breathed a long sigh, hoping that this wasn't the start of something terrible.

"Let's go to the kitchen, okay?" she told Akira and the little boy ran as fast as he could towards his waiting bowl of ice cream, PenPen following in his wake. As the toddler ran off, Misato took her own mobile phone from her sleeping robe pocket and hit the speed dial. A voice picked up after two rings.

"Hey, Good morning, Maya-san!" Misato greeted the groggy NERV chief scientist. "Sorry to wake you guys up but guess what? It's time to get the band back together!"

* * *

The following morning Patrick woke up screaming, something Erin had anticipated. It took her just a few second to come into his room with water as she saw Patrick crouched over his bed, holding his face in his hands.

"Bro! Bro! Here," she gave him the water and put her arm around him and Patrick came back to reality as he awoke. He breathed deeply, sweating from his brow.

"Dammit," he said to her. "I felt it again."

"What, your face melting off?"

"Yeah." Patrick took a swig from the water bottle and then unceremoniously doused the rest of the water over his head to wake himself up completely.

"Not much of an agent if I have shit nightmares like that, am I?"

Erin knew the problem, and also had a possible solution. "Wanna go check on Rei again?" Patrick nodded, trying to force a smile as he did so.

The twins got changed into regular clothes and then walked towards the Foch's place for their daily welfare check on Rei. Patrick wasn't sure what she would do that morning but figured it was worth a try to at least reach out to her again. In the prior evening on the way home the two of them had made the decision to not give up on Rei no matter what happened next, even if she continued to remain isolated in her sorrow. At some point she'd at least need friends, and both Patrick and Erin knew they were the ones that had to be there for Rei when that time finally came.

Patrick started up the stairs to Rei's loft that morning, followed a step or two behind by Erin. It was fairly early that morning, just a few minutes before Seven O'clock, which Patrick figured was early enough to catch Rei if she decided to leave the loft for once. He came to the top of the staircase and then faced the door. Shut as usual.

 _Should I knock this time? What the hell._

Patrick knocked on the front door, just loudly enough to be sure he was heard. There was no reply.

 _Should I do it again? Or maybe this time…_

Gently Patrick turned the doorknob, and found that it was unlocked.

 _Typical Rei, with her ongoing habit of not locking the front door._

He pushed the door open and stepped inside. Everything inside the loft seemed in order, kept neat and organized as Rei normally maintained it. Patrick looked around as Erin also went through the doorway, and saw that the bed was occupied, a fluff of blue hair visible at the edge of the blanket.

"She's still sleeping," Erin whispered. Patrick then tiptoed over to the bed.

"Patrick!" his sister admonished, still whispering. "Don't wake her!"

"Just want to check on her," he whispered back and then glided over to Rei's bed. He saw the crest of her head on the pillow, and could hear the gentle sounds of breathing.

 _So peaceful, at least she can rest a bit._

He looked at her hair again and noticed something peculiar, something out of place. What is it? Wait, the color? Did her hair color change? It's usually more azure blue and not darker. Then the realization came to him and Patrick quickly grabbed the blanket and ripped it from the bed.

"Patrick!" Erin shouted, "What are you doing?"

In the bed wasn't Rei however, but instead was a young man of short stature, dressed in Rei's white nightgown and wearing a blue wig over his head. The boy jumped awake just as Patrick grabbed his wig and tossed it across the room. Patrick had never seen him before but Erin knew immediately who he was.

"Zummy!" she said. "What are you _doing_ here?"

In another second Patrick had his service pistol drawn and pointed at David Zumwalt's head. As the boy gave him a terrified look into his eyes, Patrick growled at him. "Where the _hell_ is Rei?"

* * *

 _And here we are at about the half-way point in the story. This catches us up to where we started in the Prologue with JetAlone running away from it's storage hanger, so that along with Rei's sudden disappearance is going to be driving the multiple crises within the plot moving forward._

 _By here I've regrettably got to take a 2-month break from writing, as I'll be on an extended trip overseas for a few weeks and then back and busy when I return. Hopefully I'll get back to work soon on the second half and things will definitely be picking up in terms of action from here on out. Thanks,_


	12. In The Wind

"WHERE IS SHE?!" shouted Patrick as he leveled his pistol at Zummy's head. The boy shook in fright as he knelt on the bed. The tension in the moment was high as Patrick's eyes bulged with anger and Erin was almost sure he'd pull the trigger.

"Patrick, don't!" she called out.

He turned to his sister. "You know this asshole?"

"His name's David Zumwalt. He's _Reiko's_ friend from math," saying the word _Reiko_ with emphasis to make sure Patrick didn't give away their larger secret.

At that moment two agents dressed in black suits jumped through the open doorway of Rei's loft. Both had their guns drawn. "Freeze!" they yelled in unison, "drop your weapon!"

Erin put her hands up while Patrick raised his pistol but didn't drop it. "She's gone!" he told the two agents as they maneuvered in the apartment. They booth looked around and then at each other.

"Great _job_ , people!" Patrick admonished. "She's in the wind." Both the male and female agents blushed in flustered embarrassment, as they had been fooled by Rei's charade. They looked at each other again, trying to gain their composure but knowing all too well their jobs were on the line. "Calling it in right now!" said the male agent.

The female agent spoke to the others. "Do you need help here?" she asked.

"I got this," replied Patrick as he lowered his gun. "Go check on the Fochs downstairs, maybe they know or saw something." The agent nodded and replied, "will do," then she turned tail and ran out of the loft as the other agent stood on the staircase and gave his report. Patrick then turned his attention back to the boy.

"Out of the bed," he ordered and Zummy obeyed, walking in his socks and still wearing Rei's nightgown. Now concentrating on the new puzzle, Patrick set his mind to work while determining what to do with the suspect in front of him.

"Hey, sis? Can you take a look around and see if she or someone else left anything? Careful not to touch stuff, it's a crime scene." Erin nodded and started to search the apartment. Patrick then waived at Zummy with the pistol to go and stand a few feet from him. With Zummy still trembling and his face colored sheet-white in terror, Patrick took a wooden chair and then placed it a couple feet from one of the inside walls. Then he motioned for Zummy to go and sit on it. The boy immediately complied.

A second after Zummy sat down in the chair Patrick rushed over to him and kicked the chair, sending Zummy flying backwards waiving his arms. The chair was close enough to the wall to block its fall, but leaving the boy precariously perched on a chair with only two legs on the floor and his feet high in the air. He was immobilized, and exactly where Patrick wanted him.

Patrick now pointed his pistol at the boy, the sights of the pistol lined up right at Zummy's forehead. The boy was now so frightened that he was shaking violently. "All right, let's talk. Where the hell is she?"

"I don't know!" Zummy yelled.

"Oh, fuck you! One more time, where is she?!"

"I swear I don't know!" Zummy again answered. At that Patrick slightly adjusted his aim and then fired two shots into the walls of Rei's loft, each bullet landing within a foot of David Zumwalt's head. The boy screamed in fright.

Behind Patrick was another screaming voice. "PATRICK, STOP IT!" He turned around while still keeping the aim of his pistol squarely at Zummy's head. Erin was standing there, more furious than angry, and holding an envelope in her hand.

"What?" asked Patrick.

"Before you put holes in his head you should at least see this first!" Erin admonished and then handed Patrick the envelope. It was a plain white letter envelope that was unsealed and on the cover was in handwritten ink "Forri-kun & Forri-chan." While still holding the pistol with one hand, Patrick used the other to nimbly remove the note from the envelope. The note itself, written on a plain white notecard, said simply in Japanese "Sayonara." Patrick knew Rei's handwriting enough to know it was from her.

 _What the hell's going on?_ Patrick then showed the notecard to Zummy, who was now crying profusely from his red swollen eyes. "Did you leave this?" he asked.

"No, no, I swear to God no!" replied Zummy. "She messaged me last night and said she needed a favor, so we met at her lab and then we switched places!" he blurted out while sobbing. "I didn't know what she was doing!"

"And you didn't think to ask!"

"How the hell would I know!" cried Zummy. "I just did it for her, okay! I didn't know it would end up like this!"

"Some friend you are!" Patrick scowled. "Did she at least say why she was doing this?"

"No, no," said Zummy, "I asked her and she said she couldn't tell me, only that she regretted putting me in this position."

"Yeah, I bet you _really_ regret this now," Patrick growled.

"Please don't kill me! I swear I never touched her!"

Patrick leaned into Zummy's face, bearing his teeth as he spoke to him in a growl. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Reiko-s-s-s boyfriend!" Zummy blurted out. "The one who likes guns!"

 _This guy is so freaked out that I doubt anything he's saying isn't true. But then if so what really happened here? Why did Rei run away like this?_

There were noises of footsteps on the wooden staircase and all three of them turned to see who it was. Now entering the loft was Dylan, followed by Oliva. Both were wearing serious expressions on their faces. Dylan took a good look at Patrick holding a pistol at Zummy's head. "Oh, shit. What have we here?"

Olivia Perry got right to the point. "ANGEL evaded us completely. No sign of her anywhere in the vicinity."

"Don't you have a tracker on her," asked Erin. "Like a subdermal chip or something?"

"Not allowed on her," Olivia answered. "They said it interfered with whatever they do at Dr. Foch's laboratory."

"So what the hell happened?" asked Dylan as he moved towards Patrick. Patrick himself finally lowered his pistol much to Zummy's relief.

"She swapped places with his loser here to trick her security detail." Patrick turned to the boy. "What time did you get here last night?"

Zummy tried to regain at least some composure, hoping that the presence of other agents would preclude Patrick from blowing his head off. "Um..like, 11:30 or something? She told me to wear her nightgown before I went to bed."

"What, _he_ took her place?" asked Olivia. Dylan then picked up the blue hair wig off the apartment floor and showed it to Olivia. "Great," she said in frustration. "If he got here at 11:30, then she's been gone at least eight hours."

"There's also a goodbye note," Erin offered. "We're pretty sure it's her handwriting on it." Erin offered it to Olivia, who then carefully examined it and sighed deeply. "She bugged out," Olivia said aloud.

"No way," Patrick said, now more in disbelief. "She wouldn't just run away like this."

Erin was less skeptical. "She might if she felt like she couldn't stay," she told the others.

Before anyone else could get a world in Patrick's mobile phone rang and he took it out of his jacket pocket. The caller ID was from a satellite phone, and not one he knew before, but he answered it anyway. It was Kaji's voice on the line.

"Yes, sir."

"I just got the notice. How long has she been missing?"

"At least eight hours," answered Patrick. "She swapped places with one of her classmates and the clowns in her security detail missed it!"

"Was it voluntary?" Kaji replied. Patrick didn't answer immediately, knowing what he wanted to be true and what could actually be true were opposed, and now as a newly-minted Alliance agent he couldn't let that interfere with what was now his actual job. "From all indications it was, sir," Patrick finally said.

"Considering there was a serious security threat against her at this moment I wouldn't conclude anything. Please conduct a through and speedy investigation and hopefully we can locate her before someone else does."

"Yes, sir. Um. Director?"

"Yes, Patrick?"

"I know that I'm sort of close to the subject matter in this case. I guess what I'm asking is that, you're not going to replace me with someone else once this investigation gets going, are you?"

"Of course not, this is _your_ job. Please proceed, I'll ensure you have every resource at your disposal."

"Thank you, sir!"

"Keep me updated. We've had another crisis here in Japan we're dealing with, but I want to be sure I'm informed directly from you."

"Something _else_ has happened?"

"Focus on the current situation please, It's important if we can resolve this expediently as we may need Rei in the very near future. Ciao." Kaji then hung up before Patrick could say anything else. He then turned to the others in the room.

"We gotta find her fast," Patrick told them.

Dylan nodded. "We'll case the apartment, see if we can turn up anything." Olivia motioned to Zummy, who was still stuck on his half-seated chair leaned against the wall. "What do you want to do with this guy?"

"Let's find out what else he knows," Patrick answered. He turned to Erin again. "Think you can ask your friends in campus security to see if they have CCTV footage we can check?"

Erin smiled confidently. "Oh, I don't need to ask. All I have to do is login to the school's MAGI and they're plugged into the campus surveillance system. Just need to know when to search."

"Can someone _please_ set me down?" came Zummy's voice from behind them.

* * *

Several agents arrived in Rei's loft in the next few minutes to begin sweeping the place for clues, and one was found nearly immediately: an empty envelope in a trash bin, the only writing on the front saying in Japanese "AYANAMI-SAMA," Also in the trash bin was an empty syringe, one that Patrick knew as the same one Rei used for her LCL stabilizer. On examination the syringe looked recently used, indicating that Rei had given herself an injection probably before she left the apartment for the last time. As Rei's stabilizer lasts normally five days this provided an action deadline for Patrick and the search effort, because if Rei didn't receive another injection within five days the cells in her body would start to reject her LCL blood. Patrick made a mental note of this and put it front and center in his mind, to ensure he could reach her in time. In addition, he set the time on his watch, enabling him to look at a glance and see how many hours they had to find her. At the current moment and after deducting 8 hours and thirty-five minutes since he estimated Rei did the injection, his stopwatch read 111 hours and 25 minutes.

Further on-the-spot interrogation of David Zumwalt revealed that Rei had performed the switch in the Artificial Evolution Laboratory itself, and had escorted David inside around 10:30 PM the previous evening. It was a good choice to do this, Patrick thought to himself, as her security detail was not permitted regular access to the AEL and didn't maintain cameras in Dr Foch's laboratory. So Rei had left the laboratory wearing Zummy-kun's clothes and shoes and having a hood over her head, and Zummy had left a few minutes later wearing the blue-haired wig, Rei's winter overcoat, sweatpants and shoes. He had also carried her purse with her mobile phone inside, Zummy had at Rei's request left his phone at his dorm room beforehand.

The 10:30 swap point gave Patrick and Erin a timeline to follow and Erin promptly used her mini-notebook computer while still in Rei's apartment in order to log into the MAGI and access the campus security files, finding the archived video from the prior night in short order.

Erin pulled up a set of video files, each showing a camera feed from around the TNI campus. "I've got them here," she told Patrick. "So, let's start with the video outside of the lab. " She selected one of the files and then adjusted the time to 10:30pm, then ran the speed at 10x normal. It didn't take long to see footage of both Rei and Zummy.

"Here's Zummy," Erin pointed out to the others on her mini-notebook's screen. "He's wearing Rei's parka and has her purse over his shoulder." The video was of good quality, but still unable to see the boy's face as he had pulled over the parka hood well over it. As the video ran, they watched as Zummy quick-marched over to the left edge of the screen, hurrying on his way to go to Rei's loft.

Patrick looked back at the security team that were watching along. "Does that confirm what all of you saw?" One of the agents nodded, as he had followed who he had thought was Rei that evening and knew the clothes she normally wore.

"Okay, so let's check about five minutes later," said Erin and she forwarded the video further. Within about seven minutes after Zummy left in Rei's clothes, the video showed someone else leaving in Zummy's hooded sweatshirt and pants with the hood pulled well over Rei's head and face. "Zummy, is that your stuff?" Erin asked him. David Zumwalt, now sitting on the bed and surrounded by agents, briefly got up and walked to where the group was gathered around Erin and her computer. "Yeah, that's it! TNI logo on the sweatshirt in gold."

"Great, so let's follow her." On the video, Rei walked briskly east and off the edge of the camera's view. Erin then queued up another video file and showed recorded footage from another camera immediately afterwards, showing Rei crossing the campus alone and headed towards the old MIT building that was on the eastern edge of campus.

"Where's she headed?" asked Olivia. No one yet answered. The video showed Rei going into the MIT building from its west side, so Erin retrieved two more video files. One was from inside the MIT building's central rotunda. The Great Dome, as it had once been known, was the central atrium for visitors to the TNI campus but was also a well-liked study spot for students wanting peace and quiet to do their reading and reports. Elaborately set up with columns and a high ceiling, it was still quite beautiful due to its classical architecture. Rei however paid the chamber no mind and walked straight through, not even gaining the attention of the studying students seated around the interior.

Erin switched to another file that showed Rei leaving out of the Great Dome's eastern doorway, and onto the well-kept garden in front. A grassy lawn lined by trees stretched out for two hundred yards and Rei walked right in between the tree lines and then finally off the campus' eastern edge and out of the camera view.

"She's going into Old Boston!" said Dylan. The senior agent's hunch was confirmed when Erin pulled up one last video file, showing Rei crossing an avenue and then proceeding to a closed-off bridgeway in front of her. She quickly crouched down and under the guideposts and then proceeded down the bridge itself.

"Where does that go?" Patrick asked.

"That's the MIT Bridge, or technically I guess it's the Harvard Bridge," Dylan explained. "It crosses the Charles River and then on into Back Bay. The bridge is still intact but they don't let vehicle traffic over it into the old city." The camera view kept Rei in sight for another four or five minutes until she arrived at the far end some seven hundred feet away and then she disappeared into Boston.

Patrick turned to Erin. "Are there any other files?" She shook her head. "No, that's as far as the campus security goes." He then asked Olivia and Dylan. "What about CPD?"

"Cambridge Police probably doesn't have active cameras in the old city," Olivia answered, "but maybe the Staties do." She referred to the Massachusetts State Police, who were technically responsible for law enforcement in the wreckage of Old Boston. "Can we call them?" asked Patrick. Olivia nodded and immediately picked up her phone "I'm on it!" She then placed a call to her liaison at the state police while the others conferred.

"Dylan, how well do you know the old city?" Patrick asked him.

"My grandparents had a place in South Boston when I was little," he told him, "so I was there a few times. Most of the worst damage was around the harbor areas and the waterfront, where it's all underwater now."

"If you still wanted to hide out in the old city, where would you go?"

Dylan sighed. "There's a few places. Roxbury, Hyde Park, maybe Roslindale has a whole bunch of old houses. Maybe thousands of residences that still stand. The government's cleaning things up but it's taking a while and you know they're preoccupied with recovering the Liberty Trail sites first across the river."

"So there's lots of dumps she could go to, or be led to."

"Yeah, within an hour or two's walk from the bridge," replied Dylan. "We'd need hundreds of people to really canvas it quick.'

"We need to find out what that note said," commented Patrick. "Someone was arranging a meeting with her of some kind." There were more footsteps heard from the front door and all of them turned around. An agent escorted both Doctor and Mrs. Foch into the loft.

"So she is gone," said the old scientist, who then let out a long sigh of frustration. Beatrix was mournful, holding Rei's cat in her arms.

"Did she say anything to you?" Patrick asked them both. Beatrix shook her head. "No, but she left this." She then handed Patrick another note. Written in Rei's handwriting, the note read

PLEASE TAKE CARE OF HIM. GOODBYE.

"That sounds pretty final," Erin commented.

"She said nothing else to me, or Bernard these last few days," Beatrix continued. "She refused any contact, even when I walked up to bring her some food." Both Dylan and Erin looked at Patrick, their faces marked with deep worry.

"There was something else," she recalled. "About three days ago she put letters downstairs for me to send in the mail."

Patrick's eyebrows raised again. "Letters?"

"Yes, three of them. Just plain envelopes already stamped. I admit I didn't bother to read exactly where they were going but I think they were all for overseas. I remember one of them was going to Japan but I didn't recognize the address."

"Did you mail them?" asked Patrick. Beatrix nodded in reply. "I put them in the mail that day. I feel terrible, I should have been paying more attention."

"I do hope that she's alright," add Bernard. "Do we know if she used her stabilizer?"

"It looks like she administered it right before she left," Patrick answered.

"Well, that gives her 120 hours. If you don't find her after that she'll be in trouble physiologically."

"Don't I know it." Patrick felt the urge to pound something in deep frustration but knew he had to at least maintain a calm appearance. Others were counting on him to find Rei, and he was counting on himself.

"Does anyone know how she got that letter addressed to her?" asked Patrick. Erin shook her head. "No idea." None of the agents had an answer either. "Well, someone must have given it to her!" growled Patrick.

Olivia got off the phone with the Massachusetts State Police. "The Staties told me they don't have good camera coverage in the old city, but they'll send us what they have as well as patrol reports."

"Do you guys check her incoming snail mail?" Patrick asked the agents.

"Yes, we do," Olivia confirmed, "and nothing like that note showed up through her mail slot here or at her locker on campus. It's not even mailed from the look of it."

"Which means someone handed it to her," said Patrick. "But who?"

Olivia gained a determined look on her face. "Let's find out. Everyone!" she called out to all of the agents, of which six were in the loft collecting evidence. "Everyone, go back to your notebooks and look for any type of exchange between ANGEL and anyone else. We're looking for something like a gift or a note. Go back about two weeks!" The group of agents standing in the apartment dutifully opened up small black notebooks and then started flipping through, as all agents were required to "book" or record any contacts made by their subjects during the day, no matter how minor.

Still standing next to Patrick and Olivia, Zummy looked at Erin with a puzzled expression. "What's really going on?" he asked her. Erin put her finger to her lips in response and Zummy promptly shut up and sat back down on the bed.

It took a few minutes for the protective agents to search their books until one finally shouted out. "Have a possible contact!" Olivia jogged over to see his book, along with Patrick and Dylan. "When?" she asked.

"Eight days ago, Friday before last," the agent said. Showing them his shorthand notes, he told them "ANGEL got a letter from ROMEO while in the student café." ROMEO was the agents' codename for Diego.

"ROMEO?!" exclaimed Olivia. "What was it?"

"I had assumed," the agent tried to explain, "at that time that ROMEO was trying to fix things with TIGER" he nodded to Erin where she stood "so it didn't raise any suspicions."

"She didn't mention it to me at all," Erin told the others in surprise. "I never knew about it."

"You think?" Patrick asked Dylan and Olivia.

"Could be." Olivia showed the letter envelope to the agent. "Was this it?"

"Looks about right," he said.

"Worth enough to track him down," said Olivia. "Do we know his whereabouts?" she asked the others.

"Last reported still on campus as of yesterday," said another agent. Olivia then nodded. "Then let's bring him in and find out what he knows."

* * *

That morning Diego was hiding in the lobby of his dorm apartment complex, trying to keep from being seen from the outside windows as he waited for his escape plan to unfold.

In the space of a few days his entire life had gone to complete and total hell. A simple posting on EVAChan had escalated into not only a messy breakup with the pilot girl but a snowballing crisis that so far eclipsed his bourgeoning academic career at TNI, and now likely his immigration status.

That his online presence was basically destroyed by Erin was of minimal consequence to him, Diego knew. He could always build new identities and in fact he had a reserve identity he had kept as a "fallback" in case of a disaster occurring here in America. In his jacket pocket were a new phone, registered to a new name with an Ecuadorian passport that he had paid handsomely for prior to leaving for school last summer.

The academic destruction was worse however. Diego was cursed with being both streetwise and book-smart, streetwise from surviving with the gangs in the wreckage of Lima after Second Impact. His gang was his family, and to pull his weight in the group they had made use of his intelligence and studiousness in order to further their reach into society. All he had needed to do was get a university degree he could make a handsome salary off of, and then place himself within some company or government agency where the gang would benefit as a whole. Pretty easy goings for a guy who was living out of trash cans a decade earlier, Diego thought, but it was apparent that he was tangling with the wrong tiger and as a result was now beating a hasty retreat.

He had already once been brought into custody by Alliance intelligence on account of his pursuit of Erin Forrestal, but then kept his cool and prayed that they couldn't find too much about his past. Somehow he had been released over the winter and was free to pursue the other part of his plan. To no avail that had now crashed and burned as well, and he wasn't going to wait until black-suited agents knocked on his dorm room again.

The last straw had been seeing a flock of agents and police around the blue-haired girl's apartment loft that morning. He knew quite well who she really was and just how precarious of a position he was now it. Not that it was his choice, as to him Diego had run well out of choices long, long before.

On his new phone Diego monitored the ride-sharing app as his vehicle of escape approached. Once he saw the agents around Rei Ayanami's home that morning, he had sprinted back to his dorm and frantically packed his suitcase, then snuck to a nearby alleyway where he smashed his phone and burnt his old identity documents. Returning to the dorm, he called the ride and during the wait had booked a flight from a nearby small regional airport to take him to the Midwest USA first and not immediately out of the country as those flights would be under surveillance. Then from the middle of America he would switch to yet another ID and book passage via sea ferry to Cuba, and then a couple more stops to reach Peru. Once free of the Cambridge region it would be hard to track him, Diego was confident, but first he had to get out of the jaws of the trap.

His screen flashed "DRIVER APPROACHING: LOOK FOR A WHITE PRIUS" and Diego peeked outside. Parked on the curb was a white new-model Toyota Prius four-door. The driver, named Antoine, appeared to be of Haitian origin and Diego didn't recognize him from any of the Alliance agents he knew escorted Erin and Rei. Carefully scanning the outside from the window and confirming no one else was around, Diego then bounded from the lobby with a backpack in hand, and then ran to the Prius.

Opening the back door, Diego threw his backpack in and then jumped inside. "Antoine?" he asked the driver, just to make sure it was him. "Good morning, boss!" the driver replied over his shoulder. Diego slammed the car door. "Springfield Airport, fastest route please."

"I got to drive the way the app tells me," Antoine told him. "Otherwise I get in trouble with the app people."

"A hundred dollars says you can beat that app!" Diego then handed Antoine a $100 bill.

"OK, hang on!" he told him and immediately punched the accelerator.

Diego leaned back in the seat and took a deep breath, not letting go until Antoine made his way around the Charles River and then southeast onto the Concord Turnpike. Diego himself knew the route, Concord to I-95 and then to the Mass Turnpike, and then all the way to Springfield and Westover Airport. Once on the I-95 he knew he'd be home free of the immediate dragnet.

As he monitored the driving route on his app, Diego thought back to how this mess had started. Was she worth it, he wondered? _Muy Dios_ Erin was a goddess as far as he was concerned, blessed with beauty, charm, and physicality, and it certainly took months to break down her very-well constructed walls. He had made the mistake of just taking that one last step a little too fast but he had then figured with her asshole brother out of the way and the clone girl being preoccupied with medical issues that Erin had simply not been more isolated then that moment, so he had to move when he did.

Quite unfortunately Erin had also proved to be much more sharper in intelligence and determination than he had figured. He had seduced girls before back in Peru and usually after that first time they were so entranced that he could do no wrong in their eyes. Those girls had perused at their strength and worked then down to their weakness, but Erin had been penetrated at her weakness but then rolled onto her strength. In another world she'd make a fine wife, Diego considered, but alas now she was an animal uncaged and he was the prey.

Was it regrettable, he wondered? Perhaps not worth this much trouble, but then he'd have one hell of a story to tell his gangmates around the firepit, assuming he survived to tell it.

Suddenly the Prius jerked to the right and sped down an offramp. Diego looked out the windows and saw that they weren't going on the I-95 like had expected, but instead were disembarking the freeway. He hastily pounded on the door. "Wait! That's the wrong route!"

"Boss, there's big road construction on the Interstate," replied Antoine, who didn't even look backwards as he spoke. "Gotta take a shortcut around it."

"Okay, but better do it fast," Diego complained, "or I'll miss my flight."

"Sure thing, boss!"

The Prius sped through a park area, avoiding a series of CAUTION signs on the road that guided him further north and west. Diego looked nervously, knowing that this was no longer the road to Springfield. He searched through his backpack to find his second mobile phone, if he was compromised he'd have to ditch his current phone and then try again for another ride, this time through another state or perhaps even a rail station. He had to get out of the Cambridge Metro area fast.

"Hey," Diego shouted, pounding on the seat where the driver was. "Drop me off here!"

"No can do, boss!"

"Fuck that! Just drop me off here or I'll get out on my own!" The car's acceleration increased and the Prius sped out of the park area and into a suburban set of homes.

"I said slow the car down!"

"Company policy, boss!" replied Antoine, "I gotta follow the app and the app says to take you up ahead."

"But that's not Springfield!"

"No boss, you changed it! New destination."

"What do you mean _I_ changed it !?" Diego looked out the windows again and saw a large sign on the right side of the road that said ALLIANCE OF FREE NATIONS BASE NORTH. WELCOME!

Diego immediately went for the door latches but found they were locked from the driver's controls. He pushed on the door to try and force it open but it didn't budge. It was at that moment that his heart jumped a whole spread of beats. The Prius promptly drove through the open driveway and security gate of Alliance Base North and parked.

Diego looked out the window and saw a squad of agents clad in dark suits surrounding his ride share. The door was opened before he could reach for the handle.

"Hey!" said Dylan with a smile. "Well, if it isn't Senior Padrote! How nice of you to come and see us!"

"This is a big mistake!" Diego shouted as Dylan and another agent grabbed his arms and pulled him out of the rear seat. "I didn't mean to come _here_ , you _pendejo_!"

"Sure you did," Dylan told him. "It's right there on the app I think." Dylan motioned towards the car driver. Diego stared at him with an accusing glance, while Antoine was rather nonchalant about the whole affair.

"You paid me $100 boss, but they paid me $1000," said the driver. Antoine looked at Dylan. "Ride over?"

Dylan shrugged, motioning to his catch. "For him anyway."

"Don't forget to give me a good review. I get docked if my rating goes too low."

"Don't worry, we got you covered," Dylan replied, and satisfied the driver drove the car and sped off out the entry gate as Diego mournfully looked on.

"So, Mister Stud," Dylan said to Diego with a grin. "Let's have another talk, shall we?"

* * *

 _Well, here we are finally six months later and another post! That too entirely too long, but I had a long string of disruptions including two major trips, illnesses from both my family and in-laws family, business chaos, and not-quite-grown-up child chaos. Basically too much adulting and not enough time for writing, and then on top of that yet another creative project that took all of August. But here we are at the first chapter of the second half of NJA._

 _For those of you who have stuck with this, I would expect a quicker pacing than before now as we have a double-sized crisis for our friends. Stay tuned the next chapter won't take that long to come out._


	13. On the Hunt

A few minutes later Diego was sitting at the end of one table inside of a small, darkened room, and Dylan and Olivia Perry were seated at the other end. There was a pitcher of water with three paper cups, and an empty notepad and one pen placed directly in front of the "person of interest." One wall had a large mirror, and Diego had been in enough police interrogation rooms to know what was behind it.

Behind the window Patrick stood a few feet away in the next room, and Erin stood alongside him. The expression on Patrick's face was stone hard serious, and he said nothing as the interrogation began.

Olivia began the interview with a mildly cheerful yet mocking tone. "Hello again, mister Mejia? Or is it Mr. Padrote?" The reference to Diego's EVAChan handle was intentional on Olivia's part, in order to let him know that how much the Alliance knew of his activities. "I had hoped that we wouldn't be seeing you quite so soon."

"It wasn't my idea to be here," Diego growled.

"No?" Olivia said in mock surprise. "Then why did you direct your rideshare app to take you here?"

"I didn't do that!" he argued. "She's working with you…isn't she?"

Behind the glass, Patrick looked at Erin. "Did you do that?"

"Um, I might have," she said with a smirk.

In the interrogation room Olivia continued. "Well, no matter how you got here, what's important is that you're here now and quite conveniently so as we have so many new questions for you."

Diego tried to be firm. "I want a lawyer."

Dylan rested his chin on his hand. "No can do, compadre. When you crossed that entry gate into Alliance Base North, you entered Alliance-administered territory and here, especially in regard to EVA stuff, the rules of the host country no longer apply."

"I don't have to tell you anything!"

"Of course you don't!" said Dylan. "You can just shut your trap and then we get to toss you into a holding cell until the next ice age. And considering your lack of standing back home as a juvenile delinquent and all, I don't think the Peruvian government will mind so much."

"However," Olivia then cut in, "we can make all of this go away pretty quick if you can answer just one little question from us. How about that?"

"I didn't do anything to her," Diego said. "I didn't I swear."

Olivia winced a little at Diego's answer. "I don't recall actually asking that question yet. If you're referring to your rather predatory behavior regarding our little Tiger, I can assure you that being a dickwad is unfortunately still perfectly legal."

Diego knew where the conversation was being directed, and knew he couldn't cave in, not if he had any concern for his own life. He tried to play dumb, faking a confused look. "Uh, are you telling me that this is not about my dear Erin?"

The female agent's eyebrows rose high as she smirked, while Dylan lobbed the empty envelope Diego had presented Rei with onto the table. "You know what this is, don't you?"

"Ah, yes! That…that was an attempt on my part at a reconciliation with my dear Erin. I had made several attempts to reach her and as you know, she has a fiery temper. So I considered, perhaps, that her friend might be a better person to try and reach first in order to contact her."

Dylan was extremely skeptical. "You know how to write Japanese, Diego?" He showed him the front of the envelope, with the hiragana and kanji characters very neatly written out. "Because this seems like something a little out of your reach here."

"Well, I…I tried very hard, you know. I thought that Japanese people are very neat so I…searched the internet for the correct characters and then practiced several times…"

"How did you know this name?" Olivia again interrupted. "The name written here on the envelope. I'm pretty sure you didn't just search that on the web."

"The blue haired girl…resembles the well-known Evangelion pilot, of course…" Dylan immediately took the envelope and wacked Diego's face with it.

"That is some really stinky guano, Senior Padrote," said Dylan. "There's no fucking way you just used that name on the envelope, especially with those tricky fingers of yours writing this down so damn neatly like that."

"Who gave it to you?" Olivia asked.

Diego shook his head. "No one." The two agents looked at each other and smirked again. Olivia then leaned over the table at her subject.

"Well, _no one_ has a name, or at least a physical description. And _no one_ seemed very interested in that girl. What did he do? Threaten you?"

"I tell you there was no one."

"I'm pretty sure no one in this case also told you that they knew your gang buddies back in Lima and probably even showed you photos of them taken from some distance. Enough to establish that some people who actually are somewhat dear to you could find themselves at room temperature should you not cooperate with them. Am I correct about that?"

The scenario Oliva presented to Diego was in fact nearly exactly what had happened the day he was handed the letter. "There was no one. I insist upon this. I simply gave this letter to the girl to present a message to Erin, asking her, pleading with her, to contact me so that we could have a reconciliation. That is all. And if you had the envelope, then you have that letter too, correct?" Diego leaned back in the chair and smiled, knowing that the agents very likely didn't have the letter inside at all.

Dylan now started on him. "Senior Padrote, you don't seem like the kind of guy who would care so much about important stuff like Evangelion. You seem more like, you know, a player. A guy who just takes any opportunity he sees as profitable and runs with it. Yeah?"

"That is not a very generous description of me," Diego told him. "I have you know that was a top student within my school back home."

"Yes, and I also know that to get into The New Institute you have to be nominated by someone important and usually pretty well connected. And it seems rather unlikely that a kid with no parents and who had a juvenile record was suddenly thrust into this amazing educational opportunity."

"As I said, I was a top student and despite my past I was lucky."

"Oh, yeah," said Olivia, "you were awfully damn lucky. Not only were you lucky enough to get into TNI, once you were there you were also lucky enough to meet up with a girl who, despite using a cover alias and not ever having her part in EVA ever publicly disclosed, just so happened to be an EVA pilot."

"…along with her brother and her best friend," Dylan added.

"And on top of all of that, you also were on the EVAchan elite group, that invitation-only set of users who passed on whatever information they could get on EVA. Well, I'm guessing that was just something over than luck altogether considering just how many planets had to align in order for you to be here with us today."

Cornered, Diego grumbled. "What do you want?"

"One question only. What was on that letter?"

 _Ah, so you really don't have it._ "I'm afraid that I've forgotten."

Dylan turned to Olivia. "This guy is not even serious," he told her. "Personally I think he's just trolling us." She faced Diego. "Listen, kid, don't waste our time with this crap."

Diego however continued his play in the game. "I might remember with a proper incentive."

"Hey, Senior Padrote!" snapped Dylan. "This isn't a TV show! We don't have to play by the rules here."

"Well, then neither do I, as apparently I could possibly have something you need and you have something that I do need."

"Such as?"

"An unlocked door from this facility, and I walk out of here."

"Sorry," said Olivia. "This isn't negotiable. Actually," she said and then leaned into him again. "We're just jacking your chain here. We already know what was inside, and we know that because we found out where that letter was dropped." What she said wasn't true, but she knew bluffing was well in order. "What we didn't know was whether or not you could be trusted, or would you turn out to be just some complete asshole. Now that I have that answered, we have what we need."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah," said Dylan, playing along with Olivia. "So, if you want to walk out of here, go right ahead. We won't stop you."

Diego leaned back in the chair, taken by surprise by the success of his gambit. "You mean, you are letting me go?"

"Absolutely," said Olivia. "Whatever we needed from you, we got it, so you can totally get out of here."

"And," Dylan, "I figure you'll have about a five-minute head start."

"You mean from the Alliance?" Diego asked.

"No," said Dylan, pointing to the mirror behind him. "From the guy who's behind that mirror. You do know who he is, don't you?" Diego couldn't see through the mirror but hazarded a guess and he didn't like the answer he had come up with.

"You should know," Olivia picked up the conversation, "that Erin's brother just got back from Camp X last week. That's the camp where they train the really top agents. Like, Double-0s and all that."

"Real _License to Kill_ stuff," Dylan chimed in.

"Yup. Patrick just got back and he's been raring to try out his new skills. And here you are, you know, messing with both his twin sister _and_ his girlfriend." Olivia smiled broadly. "Agent Dylan here and I have a bet that you're not gonna get five feet out the base gates before Patrick guts you like a fish and strings you up from the base air control tower."

"And I'm speculating that he's going to take his time doing that," Dylan added. "Don't forget: he's also an EVA pilot. This guy has killed things a hundred times your size, and that was just a job. This is going to be very personal for him."

"But, hey," said Olivia, "a deal's a deal so," she stood up and opened the interrogation room door. "Hasta la vista, baby!"

Diego didn't get up from the seat. Olivia and Dylan looked at each other and knew he had the game in their hands. "What's the matter? You wanted to get out of here, didn't you?"

"Perhaps we can…discuss things further."

"Aw, shit," said Dylan. "I really wanted to watch this happen!"  
"There, there," Olivia comforted Dylan, "with this guy there'll be another time I'm sure."

"I'm serious!" Diego shouted as he looked nervously at the mirror. "Don't let me out of here!"

"Wait," said Dylan. "Did you just say _don't_ let you out?"

"Yes! Don't let me go! Comprende?"

Olivia smirked. "I believe that is consent, freely given. Okay then," she swung the door closed and then took a seat. "One question: what was really on that letter."

"You…didn't have it?"

Dylan scoffed at Diego. "You're a juvie, we know this isn't your first round in a police station. How stupid do you think we are?"

Olivia ventured another educated guess. "That letter was written in Japanese, just like the cover, right?"

"Yes," Diego confirmed softly.

"And you know that because a shifty bastard like you opened it up, despite that those goons told you not to, right?"

"Also correct," he said.

"Because you don't trust anyone and that's your insurance policy, right?"

"Also correct, my dear agent," Diego replied, finally feeling some confidence come back to him.

"Good, then we're all on the same page. Let's make this brief: tell is what it said and I'll put Patrick back in his cage and you walk out of here, escorted by the two of us." She then slid over the memo pad that was on the table with the pen towards Diego. "So let's have it."

"I will need protection," he told them.

"From who, Patrick?"

"From the others, the ones who put me in this...unfortunate situation."

"If you want _that_ ," Olivia told him, "you need to answer more than one question. Also, just to cut you off here, if you want protection for your gang buddies back home we can ask the Lima police to, say, gather them up and then post them to a remote location somewhere in the Andes where it's not so easy to find them. But to do that, you'll have to answer a lot more questions. Is that understood?"

"Yes," he said.

"So," Oliva told him, taking the pen and slamming it down on the table. "Make it quick or this whole deal goes up in smoke and Patrick back there uses you for target practice. Deal?"

 _Fine, it's all up in smoke for me anyway._ "Deal." Diego then wrote something on the pad. Both Dylan and Olivia looked at it. "What is this?"

"The truth of the matter," Diego told them, "is that the letter was written almost entirely in Japanese using characters that I didn't understand. The only thing that I did," he explained, "is what I wrote."

"Is this a code?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know what it is," Diego replied. "But it was written in English letters and those are numbers. And that is all."

Oliva showed it to Dylan, who examined it and then nodded in recognition. "We're good with this," he told the others. Dylan then grabbed the paper and hurried out of the room as Olivia faced her captive.

"Lucky boy," she told him.

Dylan ran to the adjacent room where Patrick and Erin stood and then barged inside, showing them the paper. "We have an address!"

* * *

What was written in roman characters on that letter was "Dudley 165," and this turned out to be 165 Dudley Street, an address in the abandoned Boston neighborhood of Lower Roxbury.

"You know where that is?" Patrick asked Dylan.

"When I was a kid we used to play at Roxbury State Park. Dudley street is just around there."

Olivia followed up. "What's around there?"

Dylan shrugged. "Mostly older houses, mixed in with apartments and some retail. The occasional church or school. It was high enough to avoid the worst of the incoming water damage, but it's still not in great shape."

"Does anyone still live in that part of old Boston?"

"Probably not anyone normal," Olivia quipped. "The heritage sites are all north of there, and there's no power or running water anywhere south of the river anyway. I'm sure there's a few squatters who have found places in the old city before it eventually gets leveled."

Patrick turned again to Dylan. "How far away from TNI?"

"An hour on foot, over the bridge and right down Mass Avenue. It'd be easy for ANGEL to make her way across that."

"Do you think that's their hideout or maybe just a meeting point?"

"Hard to think they'd give away their safehouse to her," Olivia mused. "I'd have to think they'd have another place that's a stronghold of some kind." Patrick then calculated the time.

"If Rei left TNI at 2230, she'd be there by 2330, by midnight at the latest," he said. "She still has a nearly ten hour jump ahead of us."

"That's enough time to get her out of Boston and then cover their tracks," Dylan said. "The sooner we can get there the fresher the site will be, but I don't think our chance are good to catch up to them yet."

"Got it," confirmed Olivia. "Let's get on the line with the director and fill him in. In the meantime, I'll get QRT set up for an air delivery and we jump the place." But Patrick waived her off.

"I think I should recon it first," he told her. "Let me see if anyone's still around and then if needed you can call in the cavalry." Olivia thought for a moment and then nodded. "That's fine, but just make it fast."

Patrick looked at his stopwatch, which now read 107 hours and 35 minutes. It still seemed like a lot of time but he knew that was deceiving. "Give me some wheels and I'll get it done." He looked over at Erin and then asked Olivia. "Anywhere here I can get a few candy bars?"

* * *

Within a half-hour Patrick was behind the wheel of an unmarked SUV loaned to him by the Alliance security team, with Erin seated next to him in front. Behind them in one of the passenger seats was Zummy, who still looked scared to death as he sat silently and wondered just why he was being taken to the wreckage of the old city. As Patrick sped over the Charles River on the MIT bridge he hit a torn-up portion of concrete and the SUV bounced wildly for a couple of seconds as Erin squealed. She then pounded Patrick on his right shoulder not so playfully.

"Do you even know how to drive?" she complained.

"Got my license, same as you," he quipped. "Anyway, I also got my Alliance badge so who's going to stop me?"

"I'm not worried about being stopped," shouted Erin. "I'm worrying about arriving in one piece!"

Patrick was slightly more careful for the rest of the drive as he sped down Massachusetts Avenue while following the GPS screen mounted on the SUV's dash. As he got to within a mile of the suspected location, he turned off the main road and into a small avenue that curved around the hillside of the old city. Old Boston was a mixture of still-standing houses and buildings combined with others that were burned down, drowned, or destroyed by other means in the intervening years between Second and Third Impacts, and the desolation spread for miles in several directions on the main island of the city. A perfect place to hide out, Patrick thought to himself. Using side streets he got to within one thousand yards of the target address and then finally stopped the vehicle.

Grabbing a set of binoculars, Patrick jumped out of the driver's seat and then jogged towards a still-standing but abandoned parking lot structure a few yards away. He climbed five flights of stairs and then got to the rooftop and carefully made his way to the eastern edge, trying to be careful not to be seen. Crouched at the edge of the rooftop lot, he searched with the binoculars for the target address, looking for a three-story white Victorian home. It didn't take him long to ID the hideout as matching public records for the house.

"That's the place," he spoke softly into his radio microphone. "No one visible."

"It's probably abandoned, already," said Dylan over the radio. He was with the QRT in helicopters that were parked just outside of TNI across the river, ready to lift off and pounce on the target on command.

"Alright, I'll go up there and see if anyone's still home. Will signal if we got any trouble."

"Roger," Dylan replied. Patrick then scurried back to the SUV and spoke to the others.

"Found the house," he said. "Sis, if anyone there were using something like satellite comms, could you hack it?"

"You mean crack it," Erin corrected. "Not if it's on a tight-beam connection. But I could use a signal to disrupt any communication, just as long as they're using some kind of electrical power."

"Well the power lines here in this part of the city don't work, so I'll bet they have a generator for anything big like that."

Erin thought about it for a moment. "Microwave would work. Just need to log into the Alliance drone control and get a hold of one of their birds that has a jammer."

"I'll call for a drone for air support," Patrick told her. "You got your terminal with you?" Erin picked up her small notebook from her handbag and nodded. "It'll only take a second, just give me the signal."

"Will do." He then faced Zummy. "Now, Zumwalt. You have an important job here."

"Me?!" David said with surprise.

"Yes. You are going to walk up to that house and then distract these jokers if anyone's home while I get inside."

"H-h-how am I going to do that?" Patrick then showed him the bag of candy bars.  
"Simple. You're going to knock on their door and then they answer, you're going to tell them you're raising money for school and try to sell them these," he said.

"You're kidding! They're not going to believe me!"

"It doesn't matter. All you have to do is get their attention for a few seconds. They're probably just shut the door or tell you to go away, if they're there at all. And if they're not there, then no worries."

"But what if they are there and they s-s-shoot me or something?"

"Look," Patrick told him directly. "You helped _Reiko_ get into this mess, you can at least do your part to help get her out. Now don't worry, I've got the rest under control." He handed him the bag of candy bars which David reluctantly took from Patrick. "Just go up there, and try to visit a few houses before you approach 165 Dudley. I'll be close by."

"Um, one other question."

"What?"

"If they want to buy the candy bars, how much do I sell them for?"

* * *

Patrick sent Zumwalt up ahead while he watched and prepared the rest of his weapons for the scouting mission. Erin looked at him with a puzzled expression, and Patrick knew why.

"You're wondering why I brought him here with us," he said to Erin.

"You're going to get him killed," she replied with concern. "Look, I've known him for months. He's not some sort of spy terrorist or anything."

"But you have to admit his whole participation in this Eva-chan thing is pretty problematic, Sis."

"He didn't kidnap her! I'm pretty sure of it."

"I'm not sure Rei was even kidnapped," Patrick replied. "Look, I agree, he doesn't seem the type for this, but we don't know for certain and I don't have time to sort out who's who."

"So you're sending him out there as bait?"

Patrick explained his plan further. "If he's nobody to these guys, they'll be trying to figure out why he's knocking on that door and I'll be there watching him when they do. If he's one of their own, they'll be something like a signal passed or they'll pull him in right away and I'll know it."

"And what if they just blow him away?" she asked.

"I promise you that won't happen," Patrick told her, and he tried to make sure she understood he meant it.

* * *

As Zummy made his way down the empty houses on Dudley Street, Patrick paced him at a distance, jumping in between the back yards of a row of properties while trying to keep from being either seen or heard. His hope was that the kid's presence walking down the street in an abandoned neighborhood was enough to get the attention of whoever it was inside that house.

When Zummy was a couple of doors away Patrick reached the target address of 165 Dudley. It was a three-story old Victorian painted white and looked in bad shape of a makeover with cracked wood panels and broken glass. Hiding from around the corner of the adjacent property, Patrick quickly brought up his IR visor and took a long glance at the house.

 _Three heat signatures, one's on the floor and a little small. That's a generator I'm pretty sure. So two guys then. Shouldn't be that hard to get in there and…_

There was a noise to Patrick's front and he quickly darted behind the corner. Flipping out his mobile phone, Patrick placed it at the corner edge of the house and recorded what he couldn't see himself. He distinctly heard footsteps on wood stairs however, and knew that someone else had arrived. Recoiling the phone, Patrick made sure the volume was at zero and then played the video, revealing a third henchmen, dressed in black combat wear and a black overcoat, had arrived through the back door of the house.

Three then. He put the IR visor aside and prepped for the infiltration. Patrick himself wore a black-colored tactical utility suit, along with fingerless gloves and black tennis shoes (which were more quiet than combat boots). He checked his weapons, two holstered Sig-Sauer P226 9mm pistols, and attached a silencer to one of them. He then checked for his knives, two well-balanced Sykes-Fairburn steel models that were attached to either shoulder strap on his utility harness. Part of his training at Camp X had been on how to properly employ knives and while he liked the Sykes models Patrick sort of whished that someone would make a mini-sized ultra-vibrating Progressive Knife like his EVA had.

He keyed his audio and whispered. "I'm here. Is the new drone in place?"

Erin checked her notebook, where she had a video input for the drone's camera, now focused on the house in front of her. "We're ready."

"QRT is ready," added Dylan, who was standing in the door of a helicopter across the river. "If we get the signal, we'll launch."

"Roger that," replied Patrick. I'm going in. Erin, when I tell you hit the microwave."

"Roger," Erin said over the line.

"I'll click twice if I need QRT to bail me out. Here goes."

"Take care, bro," Erin whispered, and then she promptly started praying once Patrick went off the line.

Patrick left his audio keyed on, in order to avoid having to use a finger to do anything. He'd only have to hit the SEND button to click on the audio, and only if he was really in serious trouble, and Patrick hoped he'd never be in that spot.

 _Rookie mission…here goes…._

Crouching down, Patrick sprinted towards the back of the hideout house and then made himself flat against the rear outside wall. He noticed a garage door that was closed, and relatively fresh tire tracks in the broken mud outside the house, and knew that the occupants had a getaway vehicle.

Going in the back door would be foolish: if not locked, it would certainly be set up with an alarm or trigger, so Patrick looked for a storm cellar opening. Fortunately there was one about six feet from him, so he grabbed steel wire cutters from his belt and again sprinted to the opening. It was small, about three feet by three feet, barely enough room to squeeze in. He used the cutters to snap away the steel grate on the outside, then after clearing enough he took a deep breath and jumped in feet first.

When he landed on the floor, Patrick came down hard on his ankles and tumbled over. He struggled to come up to his feet fast without touching anything in the abandoned storm cellar, which was a mess of old clothes and stacked-up boxes that were moldy and smelly from decades of exposure. The smell in the room was pungent enough to make Patrick want to puke, but he blew out air and then took another breath and got his bearings beyond the smell of the place.

The storm cellar was lit from sunlight out of the opening Patrick had come through in, and he could see one set of wooden stairs leading up to a closed door. Was that door locked? He'd assume probably, and that became his next obstacle. If it was locked by the door handle it could be picked or at worst he could snap off the handle with the bolt cutters, but if it was padlocked from the outside he might have to use an explosive to blow the door, and that would be the end of his stealth entry.

Fortunately the walls and floorboards of the old house were thin, and Patrick could make out what was being said above him by the three terrorists, who all spoke informal Japanese to each other.

"Did you get him?" asked one man with a deep voice.

"No. The Alliance got to him first." From that Patrick inferred that the man speaking was the one who had just returned, and the subject of the discussion was likely Diego.

"What do we do? He could identify us!" said a third voice, younger than the other two.

"We get out," ordered the deeper voice, which Patrick now took as the leader. "Sanitize this place, we'll set up a timer and get going, then let it burn once we're out."

"Understood," said the second man.

"Get a fire going," ordered the leader. "Burn anything that they can trace."

Patrick figured this was good for him, as his opponents would be busy trying to clean up their forensic traces and had definitely not noticed his entry into the house. However, now he would have to act very fast, as each piece of evidence was something needed for the larger investigation.

He looked at the wooden staircase up to the first floor and then checked to see if there was any other way upstairs from the cellar. There was not, so Patrick very carefully started up the steps with a silenced pistol in one hand and a lockpicking tool in the other. Very deliberately he took several second for each step, in order to conceal his presence and as he slowly went up he heard the men speak again.

"Who the hell is that?" one of them asked.

"What is it?" the leader replied.

"Some kid is going door to door," said the second voice. "And he's headed here."

Simultaneously a voice spoke into Patrick's earpiece. "He's approaching the house now." Zummy's coming.

"I don't like it,' said the leader. "See what he wants, if he's trouble we'll just take care of him."

Patrick now knew that the trap he had baited was about to be sprung. Knowing he needed to get to the first floor before Zumwalt showed up at the door, Patrick quickened his pace up the stairs. That was an unfortunate mistake, as the next step he took went straight through the wood plank and noisily into thin air.

"What was that?" said the leader. "Go check it out!"

"Zummy's at the door," came Erin's voice on the earplug, but Patrick now had more immediate worries. He quickly pulled out his leg from the broken stair step and bounded the rest of the way up the stairs. The door in front of him shook a little and then started to slowly swing open.

At the front door there was a few knocks. The leader peeked out the door's peep-hole but didn't make any sound. With no reply, the boy in front knocked again.

"H-h-hello?" a nervous Zummy called to the other side of the door. "Is anyone there?"

"Who the hell is he?" asked one of the terrorists.

"I think I know," said the leader, who then promptly opened the door.

Standing in front was David, dressed in his regular clothes and carrying a bag of candy bars in his left hand. He was trembling at the sight of the rough-looking Japanese man dressed in black.

"Umm…would…would you like to buy some candy bars?!" Zummy asked nervously. "It's for my school fundraising." David stood there unsure of what to do next as the two men studied him.

"Who is he," the man behind the leader asked in Japanese.

"I've seen him with the divine one," the leader responded. "He's the student who's frequently in the café with her." Sensing trouble, the man immediately grabbed for Zummy and pulled him inside the doorway.

From the drone camera above Erin watched as the terrorist grabbed Zummy. "Patrick!" she shouted into the microphone, "they've got him!"

No long worrying about being stealthy, Patrick gave her the signal. "Hit the microwave! Now!" Erin immediately keyed the command and simultaneously several things happened.

One was that the power generator that was inside the house suddenly began to whine, as internal circuit boards were being overloaded with invisible energy waves coming from above the house. Another was that the man who was opening the cellar door was now fully visible to Patrick as the door swung open, and Patrick was ready.

"There's a guy here!" the man shouted upon seeing Patrick, but he could nothing else as Patrick had his pistol at the ready and put two silenced bullets into his right shoulder at close range. Recoiling from the impact, the terrorist flew backwards from the doorway and into the wall behind him. The pistol in his right hand dropped to the floor and Patrick kicked it aside and as far as he could as he burst through the door. Instinctively Patrick turned and fired a third bullet into the man's left thigh to further immobilize him.

"Fuck, it's an ambush!" shouted the leader, who then shoved Zumwalt into the wall at the front of the house, while the second terrorist grabbed a weapon that was lying on the coffee table in the living room.

Patrick came into the house at full speed, pistol at the ready. In his line of sight were three people: the leader, about a meter to his left was Zummy, and two meters in front of them was the second man, who now had a AK-74 assault rifle in his hands. Patrick darted for cover into a small hallway as the man with the AK pulled up his rifle and fired a long burst in Patrick's direction.

 _Well, that got messed up fast,_ Patrick thought and he leaned against the wall in the hallway as the rifleman continued to fire towards him, explosively putting several bullets into the adjoining walls a yard away. Patrick knew a charge wouldn't work at that close range, and he fingered a grenade on his belt. _This might get bad with Zummy close by but it's better then dying…._ Patrick was about to flick open the grenade when a loud BOOM was heard.

 _The generator!_

Erin's microwave attack on the generator had burned it out and it had then exploded, searing the rifleman in the middle of the living room. Patrick knew this was his chance and darted around the corner, pistol at the ready. The rifleman, his face searing in red and black from the blast, brought up the AK again but Patrick had the draw on him and promptly put two bullets into his chest, one of which blew out the back of his abdomen. The terrorist crumbled to the floor as his assault rifle crashed down.

 _Two down, one to go…_ Patrick then searched for the leader. From behind him there came a voice that shouted "Help me!" The leader was now to Patrick's left, with a Taiso 14 pistol in his hand and Zummy's arm gripped in his other hand. The leader aimed the pistol towards Patrick and fired, and the bullet zipped past Patrick's head towards it's intended target. He snapped his head to the right and saw the other terrorist, the one who had opened the cellar door and whom Patrick had wounded as carefully as he could, now sink to the hallway floor with a red dot in the middle of his forehead.

Patrick swung his pistol to the front again to face the leader, who now had his own pistol at Zummy's temple as he used him as a shield. The two men each shifted around the room, looking for an advantage. The leader then growled at Patrick as he stared him down. "Drop it now," he said in accented English.

"Go fuck yourself," Patrick replied in fluent Japanese. "You're dead already."

"I know who he is," said the leader. "Drop the gun or I'll kill the kid right now."

Considering his options, Patrick worked out what would be the best possible solution. He stopped moving and then very carefully he pulled his pistol backwards and dangled it by the trigger guard with its barrel pointed upwards.

"Drop it now!" growled the leader.

Patrick then tossed the gun to his right towards the kitchen, but he tossed it violently, just enough to get the terrorist to turn his head and look to where the gun had landed. As the pistol slammed into the kitchen wall Patrick reached to his left and grabbed the knife that was strapped to his shoulder, and as the man glanced back at Patrick he had already put the knife in flight. A half-second later it plunged into the base of his neck.

Rushing towards him as the leader tried to recover, Patrick grabbed the knife hit and pushed it harder into the leader's neck. The man's grip loosened on Zummy and he let go, and the boy promptly recoiled to the ground. With his other hand he tried to grab the knife but Patrick put both of his own hands on the hilt and shoved it in as they struggled. Without turning his head Patrick shouted to Zummy "RUN!" and the boy got himself up off the floor and darted out of the open front door. Fixing his eyes on the terrorist, Patrick continued to put the blade in.

 _Fuck I do this for Rei. How dare you even touch her._

The man continued to struggle until there was a crack that came from his neck and his eyes rolled up. A wheeze gurgled from his mouth and the body went limp, and with one final push Patrick shoved the now lifeless body against the wall and let go. It slid to the floor.

He pulled his second pistol from it's holder on his left hip, and Patrick turned around to the rest of the scene. There were two firmly dead bodies now, but the terrorist who had shot him with the assault rifle was still breathing as he lie on the living room floor with two wounds in his chest. Patrick walked over to him, now holding the pistol with his right hand.

The terrorist, like the others Japanese men who looked unkempt with long hair and unshaven beards, stared at Patrick as he crouched down. He didn't hold the pistol to the man's head, but instead held it up besides him barrel pointed at the air. Perhaps with two down he might re-consider his options, Patrick wondered.

Looking into the man's black eyes, Patrick asked him "where is she?" But the man smiled instead.

"Nowhere where you can reach her!" he spat out.

"Why did you take her?"

The man laughed. "We didn't. She came to us!"

"Bullshit."

"It's true," he said. "She's answered her calling."

"Where is she?"

The man paused and smiled again. "She's gone home."

 _I don't have time for this._ "Tell me where she is!" Patrick shouted, now raising the pistol to the man' head.

"I'll tell you in hell," was the reply and then Patrick heard something drop onto the wooden floor.

Searching to his right, he saw it: a olive green-colored metal orb. Having trained with grenades at Camp X, Patrick immediately knew what it was and his heart-rate soared.

At Camp X, Patrick had been taught not only how to use grenades but also how to defend against them, an exercise in which the final course had been for one of his trainers to throw a very low-powered but live grenade at him and evaluate how Patrick responded. The stupid students had responded by trying to pick up the grenade and throw it back, which almost always resulted in wounded and broken hands. The smarter students knew that going prone on the floor was the better defense, and usually faired better. But the most successful students knew the only real means of defense was to put a layer between them and the grenade.

Patrick had about three seconds to do this, perhaps less. There simply wasn't time to think, only act.

The closest large object to him was a coffee table, the same table where the terrorist had picked up his rifle from. Patrick took both hands and flipped it upside down, then pressed it on top of the terrorist's body and where the grenade was by his hand. Then with a free hand he grabbed a worn-out cushion from a couch nearby and put it between the table and himself, and then he knelt on the cushion. At worst case, he knew, he'd lose his legs but he'd probably still be alive. At best he'd…

The grenade went off with a loud boom and Patrick found himself launched into the air, flying backwards. To his mind, the whole room seemed like it was moving in slow-motion, with the flash and smoke encompassing him like a windstorm. There was a loud ringing in his ears and a deafening whoosh that came from the center of the room. He could feel hot darts on the surface of his face. Then suddenly time contracted, and he went hard into the wall behind him.

He found himself face down on the floor, his arms spread on either side. Patrick heard stomping noises around him and his ears still rang loudly. Unsure of what was working and what wasn't, he wiggled fingers on both left and right hands, and then wiggled toes on left and right feet. All seemed okay.

"KID! GET UP!" Dylan called out to Patrick and he looked up. The agent was wearing body armor over a dark suit and had his pistol at the ready. "Patrick, are you alright?!" He didn't immediately answer, but just slowly propped himself on his knees and shook his head. Putting his hands to his face came back with small trails of blood.

"How do I look?" Patrick asked Dylan. It was all he could think of saying.

"Damn lucky to be alive," replied Dylan, handing him a white handkerchief. Patrick took it and wiped his face. There was a small amount of blood, but not gushers of it. Struggling, Patrick stood himself up off the floor and saw the QRT soldiers spreading throughout the house, rifles and submachine guns at the ready. Several went upstairs to search for any remaining terrorists or anyone else inside the house.

Patrick staggered a little but found his footing and walked around, trying to take in what had happened. The terrorist who had dropped the grenade was now a bloody blob of flesh draped in black. The coffee table was several feet away and had a gigantic hole ripped right through it, and the cushion was nowhere to be seen. There were two other bodies, one by the door and the other by the cellar stairs.

"ALL CLEAR," called out the leader of the QRT, who had checked out the two floors above them. "No sign of ANGEL upstairs."

"Damn it," said Dylan. "Was she even here at all?"

"Yeah," replied Patrick. "She was here. But probably not for long."

There were steps towards the front door and both Dylan and Patrick turned to see Olivia, also with body armor, rush through the front door with a satellite phone in hand. "Patrick! It's the director for you."

Patrick was surprised. "He called?"

"Actually I've had it on open channel since you went into the house," Olivia informed him, and then handed the phone over. Patrick took it and held it to his ear.

Kaji's voice came on the line, speaking Japanese. "Are you alright?"

"I got my bell run, but I'm okay," said Patrick. "Sorry, sir. No sign of Angel and we've got three bodies and no one to talk to."

"Was it their safe house?"

"Maybe. Only three guys here, deserted neighborhood. They had a van also and used it."

Kaji didn't comment but kept his focus. "Do a full forensic search and contact me back immediately with any findings. Did you interact with any of the targets or pickup anything? Any idea to her whereabouts?"

"The asshole with the grenade said she had gone 'home.' He also said she came on her own, they didn't take her. That seems fishy, but nothing more than that."

"If they moved her as soon as she arrived it's likely they took her to a vehicle, probably a boat. I'm willing to be the boat is their actual safehouse and this just an outpost that can be easily dumped once discovered. They still have a 12-hour jump ahead of us."

"Do you think they took her somewhere by boat, Kaji-san?"

He thought for a moment. "Not for the whole journey. Angel has an expiration date, whoever orchestrated this knows that and didn't waste time bringing her in. I'd think an aircraft was involved."

"Like maybe a VTOL picked her off of a boat," Patrick added.

"That fits, and then she'd be on her way back to Japan within about 12 hours from then. That could mean she's still in the air and on her way here." There was some commotion on the line as Kaji gave orders and then he returned. "There's an air defense alert already in Japan, we'll try to see if they can intercept anything coming in. In the meantime continue to investigate, perhaps their hideout will yield a few clues for us."

"Understood, hopefully you find her."

"Likewise. Please continue to keep me informed. Ciao." And Kaji hung up.

Patrick turned to the others. "The director thinks Rei was airlifted from here or close by, and thinks whoever did it was headed for Japan."

"We should try to figure out where the aircraft picked her up at least," wondered Dylan.

"Probably at sea," offered Olivia. "if they took her by boat and went out a few miles, they could have passed her onto something like a Thunderbolt and we'd never find out where it was."

"Well, let's look around and maybe we'll find something," said Patrick.


	14. Blow Up

For a few minutes each member of the team searched the safe house for any evidence that would either identify the terrorists or reveal more about their mission and origin. Despite Patrick catching them in the act of cleaning up their safehouse, investigating their remains provided few answers: their equipment was generally UN military surplus or older, none of the bodies had identification although their prints and DNA would be taken by others as part of the investigation, and the van in the garage was using stolen license plates from another vehicle that was reported destroyed years earlier. The memory chips in their satellite radio had been wiped as well, meaning the destination of the signals was not immediately available either.

There had been a fire started in the fireplace when the terrorists had started to sanitize, and Olivia searched the ashes for anything revealing. She came up with one very unfortunate result.

"Aw, damn!" she exclaimed as she showed the burnt remains of what was likely the letter the cult had passed onto Rei. There was little left except a one-inch shred with edges burned to a crisp, and no remaining writing on it. "It was probably the first thing they destroyed."

"Ah, shit!" said Patrick, grabbing the scrap out of Olivia's hand. He flipped it over, hoping for any trace of the message no matter how small or insignificant, but the whole of it had been burned away. "These guys were pros."

"No doubt," Olivia replied. "But how did they get that way? None of these guys have been ID so far beyond just being regular dudes from Japan. No former soldiers or cops, or anything like that."

"Something big is behind this," mused Patrick. Dylan returned to the two of them with items he had scavenged from a trash bag in the kitchen that had not yet been burned by the cultists. "Well, maybe we'll find out by what they were eating." He dumped the contents between the three of them on the living room floor of the house.

The trio of agents sorted through the trash, finding a large number of disposable eating utensils, recyclable plated and cups, and thrown away scraps of food, but nothing particularly noticeable except for one thing. Patrick picked up one of a half-dozen of instant ramen packages, all from the same brand.

"Hmm," he said to himself as he examined this. Maybe he was still shell-shocked but at least he could recognize a clue when he saw one. The ramen package was entirely in Japanese, unusual for a food item in the USA where the labeling at least had to be partly in English. There was also a very familiar cartoon character on the package, a black bear with rosy red cheeks that Patrick knew he had seen before.

"Kunamoto," said Patrick. "Kunamoto ramen. From Kunamoto."

"Where the hell is that?" asked Dylan.

"Kyushu, southern Japan. It's close to Nagasaki. This wasn't bought here in the 'States, they brought them with them."

"I guess even a cultist terrorist has to eat," quipped Olivia.

"Yeah, and this is kind of a strange choice. It's a regional flavor, not all that popular in Japan itself." Patrick looked at both sides of the package and saw that it was completely intact. Somehow it seemed important. "Let's get all of these, maybe we can trace it back to where they bought it."

"No stone left unturned," said Dylan as he picked up more of the packages. Keeping one, Patrick turned and walked outside. He needed to check on his witness.

As he exited the safehouse, he saw David kneeling on the street outside, just past the row of armored vehicles some of the Alliance QRT had come rolling in on. There was a helicopter about twenty-five feet away to his left and another that was orbiting above, but his attention was focused on the student. Zummy was crouched over in the street and vomiting profusely. Erin was kneeling next to him, her hand on his back in comfort. Patrick walked over and Erin broke off and ran towards him. She embraced him when he reached her.

"Thank God you're safe!"

"Yeah," he told her. "Pretty freaking scary."

Erin wiped off blood from his face, as some of the shrapnel had nicked him. "Are you okay?"

"Just singed. Training saved me."

"What about Rei?"

"It looks like she left hours ago. We're now thinking this was just a staging point, and another group took her out on the water and then got picked up by an aircraft."

"Oh, no!" Erin gasped. "How will we find her?"

"All these guys are Japanese, and they talked about taking her 'home,'" said Patrick. "I'm pretty sure they meant Japan. She's still got like a ten or twelve hour lead on us, so she might be there soon if they're flying her over."

"Then that's where we gotta go," concluded Erin. Patrick motioned towards the vomiting boy on the ground. "I guess he's okay."

"Holy shit, Patrick. He nearly got killed! What were you thinking?!"

"We needed to find out if he's on their side or not. After that I'm pretty sure he's not." Erin didn't immediately reply but stared daggers at Patrick. "Okay, okay," Patrick protected to his sister, raising his hands in defense. "Hey, I promised he wouldn't get killed and there he is. At least we know we can trust him now."

"Hell of a way to find out," she remarked and then went back to David, who was finally recovering. "Hey," she grabbed a bottle of water from her hand bag and gave it to him. "Take this. Just sip it, don't gulp it down." David gulped it anyway and spat back a bunch of the water with an ugly cough.

"You all right, kid?" Patrick asked him.

Zummy didn't reply at first but just nodded. "I can't believe…I just did that. Did you really…kill that guy?"

"He had it coming," replied Patrick coldly. "But at least you're still in one piece."

"Remind me not to sell candy bars for you again," said Zummy. Patrick laughed hard when he heard that, sighing in relief.

"Dude, you've got a sense of humor!" he said out loud. "You'll be alright yet!"

After making sure Zummy wasn't wounded and Erin was with him, Patrick placed another call to Kaji.

"Find anything?" the director asked him.

"Six unopened packages of Kunamoto ramen. The one with the bear on it."

"Excellent!" said Kaji. "Take photos and send them to us, be sure we can get the lot number off the package. They bought them in Japan most likely."

"Probably. There wasn't anything else we had, and they cleared the memory from their satellite phone. The letter was burned."

"Whoever taught them fieldcraft is very skilled," said Kaji. "We have to assume the top leader is someone from a major intelligence agency, or something like that."

"What do you want us to do, sir? Go to Japan?"

"Correct, the game is moving here. Also, what about your witnesses?"

"Diego the loverboy gave us descriptions of two of the men. Both of them are now dead, but they look like they match. Beyond that I don't think he knows much. But the kid with the Eva-Chan group might know more."

"Do you think he's connected with the cult?"

"No, I vetted him pretty thoroughly," said Patrick, leaving out the details of how he did it. "Just a very interested third party."

"Bring him in with you," said Kaji. "The G650 is already on it's way to pick you up."

"Great, at least we can fly in comfort."

 _Leipzig, Germany_

Shinji Ikari sat on his music stool, cello in one hand and bow in another, as he worked his piece in the center of his dormitory apartment. With a scheduled performance coming up in a few days in Japan he wanted to be ready and able to debut a new arrangement. However the work was coming along in fits and starts, and he often paused to scribble notes upon the music sheet placed on the stand in front of him, all corrections he would try to incorporate into the final product.

He played another spread and liked the way it came out, and continued on it to the next page, quickly turning the music sheet over and then pulling the bow again. _Just have to finish this one set, that'll be a relief!_ He continued, letting his mind focus on the music as Shinji closed his eyes and imagined the notes bouncing in the air in the rhythm he wanted. Suddenly there was a loud slamming noise and his mental image of notes resulted in all of his floating musical symbols raining down on the ground with a crash.

 _That was a loud slam this time, she must be ticked off about something._

As footsteps were heard nearby, Shinji carefully set down the cello and bow and bounded to the kitchen to grab an iced tea from the fridge. He knew he needed to stay just out of engagement range and didn't go to the foyer until he heard the other shoe drop, which happened quite literally as a black ladies shoe went flying about two feet from his head.

"Stupid, stupid, idiot!" Asuka cried out. "Who the hell does he think he is!" Other objects followed the shoe, as Asuka tossed her handbag towards the foyer wall, passing by Shinji by perhaps a foot from his head. Seeing Asuka now hoist her violin case, Shinji quickly intervened, something he had become used to by this time.

As Asuka was about to toss the violin case Shinji quickly grabbed the handle and lifted it from her hands, offering her the tea from his other hand. Asuka's face wore an expression of anger, her cheeks were flushed red and her bright red hair was all over.

"Welcome back," Shinji said in a somewhat cheerful tone. "What did Mueller do this time?"

"He fucking bumped me back to second row! Second row!" Asuka answered with a growl. "You gotta be kidding, right?"

"Why did he do that?"

"Hell if I know," she told Shinji, then took a giant swig out of the bottle of tea. Gulping it all down, she let out a relaxed "aaahh" and then burped.

"Some bullshit about not matching with the rest of the strings set. I mean, come on! If I'm in the front row it's not me that has to match with everyone else, it's everyone else that has to match with me!"

Shinji carefully set down Asuka's violin case on a nearby table. "I think he just wanted to give you a reason to try a little harder."

"Ha!" she replied, tossing the tea bottle into a trash can about two meters away. "Why doesn't Herr Mueller just flunk me out of select orchestra while he's at it." She stood there, her hand on her hips and thought for a moment.

"Maybe I just bail on this place. Getting sick of it anyway."

"We go to Japan tomorrow," Shinji reminded her. "I sure you just need the break."

"I suppose," she told him, then managed a small smile. "At least we can hang out together somewhere and not be bothered by all of these losers."

"Kyushu's got nice weather this time of year," Shinji told her. "And after we're done with the concerts we can get a boat and head out somewhere nice."

"Yeah," she said, finally recovering from her hanger. "That would be nice." Asuka walked over to where Shinji was standing and put her arms around his head. When they first met Asuka was a couple of centimeters taller than Shinji, but three years later he had grown much taller than her, so reaching for him meant Asuka needed to lean up on her toes. Shinji wrapped his arms around her.

"I just want to get out of here, and…you know," she told him.

"I'd like nothing better," Shinji replied, and Asuka closed her eyes, came in, and gave him a slow kiss.

She pulled back, still smiling, and was about to go for more until she remembered something. "Oh! I got the mail for you downstairs." Asuka let go of Shinji and walked over to recover her handbag off the floor. Reaching inside she pulled out a letter in a plain white envelope. "This was in it."

Seeing the letter, Shinji quickly reached over and grabbed it. He turned it over and saw the handwriting, done in extremely neat cursive English. There was no return address but he knew who it was from. Shinji found a letter opener and sliced open the envelope, and Asuka stood by closely as he pulled out a single folded piece of paper from inside.

"She finally broke her silence," said Asuka. They both knew about Rei's recent medical issues and Shinji had tried to contact her several times in the last few days by phone, text, and email but Rei had not replied.

The outside of the paper read "Onii-chan and The Second," written in Japanese. Shinji quickly opened up the folded paper to see the inside message. It consisted of only two lines of characters.

I'M SORRY I COULDN'T DO IT

FAREWELL

Rei had written Sayanora, a formal term for goodbye in Japanese. She hadn't ended letters to Shinji like that ever before.

"Farewell!?" exclaimed Asuka. "What's she gonna do?"

"This is bad," Shinji said under his breath. He looked all over the letter to see if there was anything else written but there was nothing.

"Call Misato," he told Asuka, while he took his own phone and tried Rei's mobile number. _It's been shut off the last few days, but I need to reach her right now_. Dialing Rei's satellite phone, Shinji waited as it rang and expected it to go back to voice mail like so many times before. But this time it was picked up after one ring.

"Hello? Rei!?" Shinji shouted into the phone.

"Shinji!" replied Patrick Forrestal over the line.

"Where's Rei?"

"Please tell me she's with you," said Patrick.

"No. I got this letter today. From her."

Shinji had Patrick's full attention. "What did it say?"

"It said 'I'm sorry I couldn't do it' and then 'farewell.'"

There was silence at the other end for a moment, then Patrick said. "Are you sure it's from her?"

"Yeah," Shinji confirmed. "It's her handwriting, no doubt."

"Send me photos of the letter, including the envelope," Patrick requested, "then ask one of your security detail to get it to us fast."

"Patrick, what happened?"

"She disappeared last night," he answered. "But there's something really fucked up about this. Shinji, red alert on this one. Someone has an unhealthy interest in us pilots."

"I get it. What can we do?"

"If you hear anything give me a call right away, I'm going full steam on this to find her and what happened. Prayers are appreciated."

"Will do," Shinji told him. "I'm supposed to be going to Japan tomorrow, I'll check in with Misato but if there's anything else we can do to help let me know."

"I'll do it. Hey, I got to go board a plane right now but I'll keep you updated when I can. I'll be holding onto Rei's phone but call me on my own line, I need to keep that one open. Got it?"

"Thanks," said Shinji. Patrick then hung up Rei's phone, and Shinji sat down on the music stool in shock as he listened in on Asuka talking over to Misato, who was explaining what she knew so far to her.

"Got it," Asuka replied. "If we hear anything else we'll call right away. Bye."

"Did she know?" Shinji asked her. "About Rei?"

"She got the same letter you did," answered the redhead. "There's more trouble too. You remember that big stupid robot that got loose, just before I first came to Japan?"

"Yeah," recalled Shinji. "Jet Jaguar or something like that?"

"It's on the loose again."

Shinji was direct. "Do they need us to pilot EVA again?"

Asuka didn't directly answer, but instead softly put her hand on Shinji's chest. "You know our time's over on that, right?"

"But who's going to pilot EVA if Rei's not…"

"Don't forget they still got at least one active pilot besides her," Asuka reminded him. "If it's just a runaway robot like last time I'm sure they'll be okay." Shinji nodded in acceptance and then his mind went back to the letter. "Why did Rei run away?"

"Obviously she finally freaked out," said Asuka. "It was going to happen sooner or later."

"I don't think so. I know she was troubled but…" Shinji took the letter and read it again. "What did she mean by that? I couldn't do it?"

"Baka," said Asuka. "She means she couldn't be human."

 _Alliance Intelligence Command Center, Tokyo-3, Japan_

A crowd of agents, technicians, operators, specialists and others were huddled around a set of flat LED screens inside of the Alliance Intelligence's command cell as Kaji scanned the screens. Since bursting out of its hanger 36 hours earlier, Jet Alone had not been spotted by anyone including Alliance intelligence and this had made him wonder if the unit had simply marched straight into the ocean and sank. Within the last few minutes however Alliance sources had picked up chatter from both military and civilian sources that JA had been seen on the island of Kyushu. There was enough activity to confirm something was going on and Kaji had directed his staff to put maximum effort on locating JA within the southern island.

"Got something from the Air Force," called out one operator inside of his work cell, and others quickly jogged over to get more detail.

Standing a few feet away from the first row of staff work cells, Kaji kept his eyes on the main screen above, with video feeds of the major Japanese media agencies playing on either side. The news about Jet Alone escaping had gotten to the public already despite the Tokyo-2 government's best efforts, and this was both helping and hindering efforts to locate and apprehend the giant robot.

Deputy director Stephenson walked to Kaji's side to monitor the crisis. "Anything from the government?" Kaji asked him.

"Nothing productive, I'm afraid," Stephenson replied. "As you know they're just in office after a major election campaign to increase 'transparency,' and naturally the first way they react to a catastrophe is to try and keep it quiet. They've mobilized the military, however."

"Have they contacted NERV yet?"

"No, and there doesn't seem like there's a plan to either. This doesn't bode well, I'm afraid."

Kaji mused over the situation. "I could see that they want to be seen as competent, and not requiring outside help to manage a crisis. It seems we might not have much choice but to let they at least try it their way."

"Contact confirmed!" the operator who was monitoring the Japanese Air Force called out. "They've got visual on JA!" He immediately posted a relay of live vide coming from jets that were approaching the giant robot as it walked around.

"Location?" asked Kaji.

"Kasuga," answered the controller. "It's headed right towards the air force's southern command base."

 _An interesting move._ "What do you think?" he asked Stephenson.

"It's certainly not a random path. If it's being pursued by the air force and if JA is acting autonomously, it might be looking for a way to stop the air intercepts by destroying the command post. Kasuga controls all of the radar and sensor arrays in Southern Japan."

"Let's see what it does," said Kaji, and both men looked towards the main screen.

On the video there were split screens taken from different video feeds, one was from a fighter jet, a F-35AJ, that was closely following JA from a few kilometers away. Another video was of the tactical display from the air force's own network, being fed from a AWACs aircraft flying high above another thirty kilometers away. Still more video came from drones and VSTOL gunships that were keeping pace with the robot. Jet Alone continued a solitary, fast-paced march directly towards the Japanese Air Force's base directly ahead of it.

"Any idea why no one's spotted JA until now," asked Kaji. Another young man, a Japanese of short stature and gigantic round eyeglasses seated next to the Air Force desk operator, answered. "No one has a definitive answer," he said. "JA was supposed to have both stealth characteristics and an electromagnetic screen that made radar intercepts difficult, but there wasn't any eyeball contact with JA up until about twenty minutes ago."

"All that way from Old Tokyo to Kyushu without being seen by anyone," mused Kaji aloud. _Something's really not right about this…_

"The Air Force is queuing up their attack run," said the controller. "Projected at two Thunderbolts and two F-35s firing concussion-type missiles with the intention to trip JA off it's feet before it reaches the Kasuga base and city."

"How will that affect the reactor?" asked Sasuki Ooi, who was standing a few feet from Kaji and monitoring the battle while listening on the phone for the other Alliance Intel operation in Boston.

"They plan to use a tanker aircraft to drop liquid nitrogen on JA once it's down," said the technical specialist. "This cools down the outside of the containment shell so in case of any breach they can avoid a critical mass."

"Let's hope it works," said Kaji.

From the screens the whole staff in the control room followed as the Japanese Air Force attempted to apprehend the runaway robot. The audio from the JAF command radio channel was also relayed through the control room, so that the Alliance people could follow along everything that was happening.

From the tactical display they could see two arrow units representing F-35 fighters speeding towards JA, and then four additional arrows representing the missiles they were firing. Over the battle channel audio, a pilot called out "MISSILES AWAY! MISSILES AWAY!"

"Forty-five seconds to impact," called out the cell operator. "JA is _not_ taking evasive action." Indeed, the robot just kept walking towards the base at full steam.

"Twenty seconds," the operator called out.

 _Why isn't JA doing anything?_ Thought Kaji.

"Ten seconds!"

"We have an energy blip on the unit," reported another controller who was monitoring JA with the Alliance's own drone. "Powering up something,"

"Five seconds!"

As they watched the live video, a series of light flashes came from Jet Alone's rear and towards the missiles that were rushing towards it. There were four neat explosions in the sky about five hundred meters apart.

"All four missiles engaged by laser," called out the cell operator.

 _Now that's a surprise._ "By laser? Was JA armed?"

The technical specialist's voice got emotional and flustered as he replied the answer. "It's…it's not supposed to be! JA is a prototype, no weapons were mounted on it during it's initial test run three years ago!"

"Then how did they get there?" asked Kaji, his voice still firm. He needed answers.

On the audio the staff could hear the panicked call-out of the Japanese Air Force crews, now realizing that Jet Alone was armed and ready for combat.

"WHITE SIX TO WHITE BASE. WHITE SIX TO WHITE BASE. TARGET IS ARMED AND ENGAGING."

"WHITE BASE TO WHITE SIX. SAY AGAIN?"

"TARGET HAS LASER AND IS ENGAGING!"

"WHITE BASE TO WHITE FIVE AND SIX. PLEASE DO FLY BY AND CONFIRM."

"WHITE SIX TO BASE, WHITE FIVE IS DOWN!"

Kaji's team continued to monitor the battle, as Jet Alone began to fire its laser on aircraft and missiles attacking it. Within a minute a F-35 was down as were two Thunderbolts and two more drones. Jet Alone continued its march towards Kasuga Air Base.

"WHITE SIX TO WHITE BASE REQUEST REIFORCEMENT OVER."

"WHITE BASE TO WHITE SIX INTEL REPORTS TARGET IS NOT ARMED. WHO IS FIRING ON YOU?"

"IT'S THE FUCKING ROBOT YOU MORON!" There was another explosion immediately after this statement. The controller, his voice elevated, reported what had happened. "F-35s are both down!" he said. "JA is closing in on the base."

"Move our drone out of JA's firing range," ordered Kaji. He turned again to Stephenson. "Get the Alliance military command on the line, tell them we need assistance."

"Yes, sir," said the vice director and he promptly moved over to the secure communications cell, while Kaji continued to monitor the battle.

"WHITE BASE TO HQ, WHITE BASE TO HQ. EVACUATE! EVACUATE. TARGET IS BEARING DOWN ON YOU."

"What's happening?" asked Kaji.

The controller continued to relay the giant robot's movements. "JA continues to close in. As this rate it'll be at the airbase within one minute."

"And the Air Force's response?"

"Another four fighters have been dispatched, but JA has now entered residential parts of the city. They don't have yet clearance to engage."

"That's stupid," commented Kaji. "What can JA to do to the base?"

"It's so big that he'd likely just stomp on it," said the technical expert. "JA is so large that if they can't immobilize it you're probably have to resort to N2 warheads to destroy it, and that would be….messy."

One the large monitor, Kaji and the others watched as their own drone gained altitude, trying to avoid the robot while keeping within camera range. By this point JA was already through the base gates. The staff watched as dozens of Japanese air force personnel streamed out of the main control building, jumping into vehicles or running on foot to avoid being trampled over. To Kaji it was comically remining him of giant monster films of the 1950s and 60s, only this time it was real.

"Air Force is coming in with reinforcements!" shouted the controller. "They've been given orders to intercept!" Four JAF F-35s launched a fusillade of missiles as they desperately tried to stop Jet Alone from destroying the base. It was all for naught, as JA promptly reached for the giant dish array on top of the command building and ripped it off, then tossed the dish towards the fighters. It managed to collide with two of them and graze a third, resulting in three explosions as the remnant of the dish slammed into the town below. The fourth fighter dove on the unit, attempting to penetrate it's head with its cannon but failed to do so, and JA then shot it down with it's laser. Finally the robot smashed into the command building. Crushing it to pieces with its feet, JA marched over until there was little left than flattened, crumpled metal, and then proceeded to the giant fuel storage tanks that were a thousand meters away.

The robot stopped for a moment and looked above, directly at the camera lens of the drone that was filming it. It pivoted for a moment and then shot a laser beam right at the drone. The last thing seen was a bright red flash followed by static.

"Drone is down!" called out the controller.

"Do we have anything else in the vicinity?"

"Global Hawk is still operational at 20,000 meters," replied another controller.

"Switch video" ordered Kaji, and the second controller switched the Global Hawk's live camera to the master video display. At high altitude the larger drone's camera view wasn't as clear as the first drone, but JA was large enough to make out on the screen and they watched as it reached the fuel tanks. All it took was one shot of it's lasers and the entire base went up in flames. The explosions of the fuel storage put up so much smoke and soot that they lost sight of JA, and most of the base.

"Reacquire," ordered Kaji. Several controllers of the drones and other assets worked to find JA again among the destruction, but none were successful.

"Unable to, sir," the Global Hawk controller reported. "I've got visual but JA is gone from the scene!" On the screen the drone was able to penetrate the smoke left behind by the massive explosions, revealing the wreckage of destroyed storage tanks and destroyed buildings and aircraft everywhere, but no gigantic robot was seen.

"We've lost it, sir," said the controller.

"its gone!" said another. "Nothing on EMS spectrum at all! It's like it completely disappeared!"

"Technical?" asked Kaji, already knowing the likely answer.

"Stealth characteristics have been fully activated," replied the expert. "That's also not in the original prototype specs but this unit is now fully functional. And it's still out there."

Kaji grasped his hand in a fist, trying to calm himself and contemplate his next move. There really wasn't much else to do other than make one call. "Communications," he ordered, "Get NERV on the line, right now."

 _Alliance Base North, Cambridge USA_

A couple of hours later Patrick again drove the SUV, this time towards Alliance Base North. Erin was again seated next to him in the front, and David Zumwalt in one of the rear seats. Zummy had managed to recover from his introduction-by-fire and was now keenly interested in what was going on.

"So what happens now?" he asked the twins. "Did you find out where she went?"

Patrick replied without looking back as he drove through freeway traffic on his way to the base. "Odds are it's Japan. The cult is from there, and she was there too, so that's gotta be where they're headed now."

"You don't think they took her somewhere else?" asked Erin.

"That guy said _home_. Her home or his, it's the Land of the Rising Sun. So off we go."

"Well," said Zummy, "I really hope you guys find her. It's been a lot of excitement for one day."

"Oh, but we _like_ you Zummy," said Patrick facetiously. "So much so that we're going to take you _with_ us."

"Wh…what?!"

Erin was surprised too. "He's coming along?"

"The agency wants to talk with him," said Patrick. "All about that Eva-chan thing."

"But…but, I've got school!" Zummy protested. "I can't go to Japan now!"

"Dude," Patrick looked back at him as he changed lanes in the SUV to exit the freeway. "Your study buddy may have been kidnapped by a bunch of bloodthirsty cultists. You don't want to help find her?"

"Sure, but…what the hell would I know about that?"

"I'm willing to bet someone was using Eva-chan to get info on the pilots and there whereabouts. Also, you were the last friendly person to see her. So you and some of my pals from work are going to have a very nice, long chat while we start looking around."

Zummy was still both shocked and skeptical. "How can I talk about Eva-chan if it's down?"

"Don't worry," said Erin. "I'll be sure you can get to it. I've already got it installed on the virtual MAGI so I can access it from Tokyo-3 when we get there."

"We're going to _Tokyo-3_!? _Seriously_?"

"Seriously. Plane's gonna take all three of us there just as soon as we get to the airfield."

Patrick drove the SUV to the security gate of Alliance Base North and showed his badge. The gate guard promptly let him through and pointed where to take the vehicle. In a couple more minutes Patrick pulled over on the edge of the tarmac, where a white-painted Gulfstream G650ER was parked on the runway. There was another black SUV parked nearby, and both Dylan and Olivia got out as Patrick stopped his own vehicle a few feet away. He and the others exited the vehicle, and Patrick tossed the keys of the SUV to Dylan as they walked over.

"See?" Patrick told him. "Back in one piece."

"James Bond you're not," Dylan replied. "Thankfully."

"No comments on that score," quipped Olivia. She then motioned to three duffel bags sitting next to her on the ground. "Hope you don't mind that we packed for you guys. They told us you needed to be back up in the air immediately."

"I'm okay, most of my stuff wasn't even unpacked. How about you?" Patrick asked Erin. Before she could ask, Olivia answered the question. "I put in about three days worth of clothes. Nothing too formal, mostly athletic-type stuff, plus a makeup kit and what seemed like your regular bathroom things."

"I'll trust you got it right," said Erin. "I can always get stuff around Tokyo-3 if you missed anything."

"What about me?" asked Zummy. Olivia motioned to a third bag.

"Well, kid, we took the liberty of going into your place and packing what looked like your normal outfits, plus your toothbrush. You should have what you need in there."

"How would you know?"

"We _know_ ," Dylan answered.

"What about my notebook computer?"

"Oh, I put that in miss Erin's bag here," said Olivia. "You'll get it back…eventually."

"But what about my classes?" Zummy continued to protest. "If we're gone for days then…"

Olivia had that planned too. "Already took care of it. Chanceller Galletner was kind enough to help us out here and give you a pass for the semester. Nothing to it."

Patrick had already grabbed his bag and headed towards the jet, which now had it's side hatch open and a stairway gantry lined up for boarding. "Thanks a lot guys! You're gonna keep at things here?"

"Yes, sir," said Dylan. "We'll keep processing today's scene for evidence and also do a full search around old Boston for wherever they kept that boat we think they had."

"Best of luck guys," added Olivia. "High hopes to find Angel soon."

"Thanks so much," Erin told her, and gave Olivia a big hug before getting on the stairs. "Good luck," Olivia told her, "and I hear that they might need you to go back to your old job when you get back to Tokyo-3?"

Erin's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Why? What happened?"

"They'll fill you in on the plane," Olivia answered. "While we've been busy something big popped up in Japan. Go on, I'll see you when you all get back."

"Okay," said Erin, really not sure what was happening. She got on the stairs and followed Patrick into the jet.

Zummy approached the stairs and was handed the duffel bag by Dylan. "Have a safe flight," he told him.

"Uh, thanks," said David with much trepidation. The open door of the jet beckoned. He hesitated for a moment until Patrick's head popped out. "Zumwalt, get your ass up here or they're gonna stuff you in the cargo hold. Move!"

"Alright, I'm coming." Zummy climbed the stairs quickly, nearly slipping off once on his way up. He reached the top a few second later and saw the logos inside of the jet. "Holy shit! This is NERV's jet?!"

Patrick didn't have patience in the matter. "Strap in, fanboy," he ordered and David quickly found an open seat to set in as the jet started it's engines. Patrick and Erin were already seated and belted in, and faced each other on one side of the aircraft, while Zummy's seat was across the aisle's from Erin. He hurriedly put on the seat harness as the jet wasted no time taxing onto the tarmac. "I don't believe this. I _so_ don't believe this is happening," Zummy said under his breath as the aircraft quickly gained speed and was in the air a half-second just after Zummy fastened the last clasp on his seatbelt.

 _This chapter too entirely too long to put together but finally here it is. The stage is shifting and we will be going back to Japan for the next arc of this story. Much more to come and a lot more surprises to follow._

 _I do have to apologize on the delays for getting the story out, this was supposed to be the "easy" novel but continual grown-up type issues like work and family intrude, plus I keep taking trips away from home where I can't get writing in. Now that I'm back I expect to be more stable and productive. Should have another chapter up by November. Of this year. Thanks!_

 _Reviews and support always welcome. We're about 50-55% through the current story now._


	15. Getting the Band Back Together

Once the Gulfstream was off the ground and at cruising altitude, Patrick and Erin got settled into their flight by getting a light dinner from the plane's galley. Erin quietly served the three of them instant ramen and sodas from the fridge, and together along with Zummy they ate in silence as the aircraft cruised towards the arctic circle on its way to Japan.

The twins let Zummy get in a shower first, cautioning him not to use up all the limited water supply on board. The boy complied and made his time in the rear bedroom compartment short, exiting in fifteen minutes wearing a grey sweatsuit with TNI's logo emblazoned on the chest. Patrick promptly went in and cleaned himself up with as lengthy of a shower he could manage. He deliberately set the water cold, partly to wash off any remaining blood and partly to save as much of the hot water as he could for Erin's use, but mostly to keep him awake as fatigue had now set up on him with a vengeance.

After the shower Patrick threw on some shorts and a t-shirt and plopped into the bed. Erin knocked on the outside door.

"It's unlocked," he murmured. Erin opened the door and went straight to the tiny bathroom, shutting the door behind her. The water ran for a while as Patrick lay motionless on the bed, face down in the sheets.

Upon finishing Erin came out, her body and hair wrapped in white towels and wearing nothing else. She slid onto the bed next to Patrick. She had no inhibitions in doing so as for her, Patrick was probably the one boy on the planet that she still trusted. Erin nudged next to him as he lay on the bed and rolled with his back away from her. They were on the bed for a while, both in silence, until Erin peeked over his shoulder and saw that Patrick's attention was on his watch. The time on the watch continued to count down and was now at 99:45: Rei had less than 100 hours to go before her LCL stabilizer failed.

She gently put her hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"I don't think so," he said with a low tone of voice. He didn't look back at her, and he didn't move either.

"It's gonna work out," she offered, trying to cheer him up. But Erin herself felt optimism fleeing.

"I killed a guy today," Patrick confessed to her. "Really killed him."

"Patrick…"

"This wasn't like at SEELE-2, you know, with bullets flying and all that. I saw his face, looked into his eyes. All I could think of was her, that this guy had his hands on her at some point. He touched her. And I saw that in my mind and then I pushed a steel knife straight into his windpipe."

"Bro, it's…"

"I didn't even feel bad about it at first," Patrick continued in a low, slow tone. "Just one less asshole in the world. But that look on his face…he really didn't think he was gonna die that day. Guess that must have been a big surprise."

Erin didn't wait for anything further, instead she grabbed Patrick by the shoulder and rolled him towards her. She saw tears coming from his reddened eyes. She took both of her hands and put them on his cheeks, and then brought her face forward.

"I know it's gonna work out," she whispered to him. "because it's _you_ that's going to work it out. If anyone can do this, it's you."

"You really think so?" Patrick said to her. "I'm so afraid…I'm so afraid that we're not going to find her in time and I'm going to lose her."

"You won't," encouraged Erin.

"You didn't see her the way I did, right before she left," said Patrick. "That look in her eyes, she was so hopeless. It was like she had gone back to the way she was, back when I first saw her and she was living in that rathole apartment back in Tokyo-III. You don't think she did herself in…"

Erin became angry. "Don't say that!" she said, staring in Patrick's eyes. "She would never do that, Never. Not her."

"But maybe she just lost it somehow," answered Patrick. "I mean, she just walked away."

"Then you've got to get her back, no matter what it takes. Okay?"

"Yeah, I know."

The two of them remained silent for a while longer, just looking into each other's emerald-colored eyes. It was moments like this when they felt closest, like two sides of the same coin. His nightmares of the day finally abating, Patrick finally let himself relax and let out a deep breath. He put his arms around Erin and she snuggled close to him as he held her tight. He could tell Erin was nervous despite all of her attempts to cheer him up, and now it was his time to return the favor. Gently he kissed her on the forehead.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Erin didn't reply at first, but just nodded and leaned in closer on his chest. Then she said. "I guess they figured a way to get us back to Japan, didn't they?"

"Yup."

"If we're going back to Tokyo-3 do you think Toji will be there?" she asked.

"If they're calling an alert with the EVAs then Hikari will be there. And if Hikari's there, then Toji will be there too. You know that."

"I know," she said. "That's another mess that I made."

"You didn't do anything wrong at all, sis," Patrick told her, and squeezed her harder to reassure her.

Patrick slept soundly and surprisingly uneventfully, he had fully expected a rush of nightmares to occur and was either too exhausted or too distracted for his brain to provide the nightly horror show he had become used to on stressful occasions. He took it as a hidden blessing but knew he needed to press on. When he woke up he first looked at his watch which now displayed 89:42: ten hours had gone by in the air, ten fewer hours to find Rei and save her.

He pulled himself out of bed and immediately hit the floor for thirty pushups, a routine he had started after his first day at Camp X. The exercise woke him up fully and feeling at least energized opened the bedroom door to the main cabin of the aircraft. Seated in the cabin was Erin, who had woken up well earlier and had changed into a cotton t-shirt and a mid thigh-length blue denim skirt with black leggings underneath and worn with red high-top sneakers. Zummy was seated across from her, sipping on orange juice and eating a bagel, and still in his sleeping sweats.

Patrick grabbed himself an iced coffee from the galley and took the seat next to Erin. "How did you sleep last night?" he asked Zummy.

"Pretty good, really," he said. "Nice to have a whole airplane to yourself."

"Yeah, this is one of the few really cool perks we get," commented Patrick. "This jet is NERV's and they have only the one, but sometimes we're lucky enough to get a flight on it."

"So then," Zummy asked with trepidation, "you are pilots, really?"

The twins look at each other and then at Zummy. "I guess the gig's up," said Erin. Patrick grimaced and then leaned back in the chair. "Tell you what, David. I was pretty hard on you yesterday. I mean, we're in a crisis situation and there we saw you impersonating our friend laying in her bed. You have to admit it wasn't exactly a good position that you were in."

"I honestly didn't know what Reiko was up to, but she asked me a favor and I did that for her. She's so nice, how could I refuse?"

"Right but I had to figure out who's side you were on," Patrick explained. "I mean, finding out that you were an admin for EvaChan didn't exactly help your case."

"I swear to God EvaChan has nothing to do with spying or anything bad. We just like to trade stories and research EVA and stuff. We know that there's a lot the public doesn't get told about Evangelion, and it was a way to find out more."

Patrick turned to Erin. "Did you look into him a bit more?"

"I did," she said. "Spent some time this morning on it. He's completely clean, just another fanboy," Erin said as she looked at Zummy. The boy was embarrassed and looked away.

Patrick nodded in agreement. He had spent yesterday determining if David Zumwalt was a friend or foe, now he needed to win over his confidence. Zummy was the last person to see Rei alive, and to Patrick that made him quite important.

"So then David, or um, Zummy is it? Who gave you that name anyway?"

"It was my handle for my robotics team back in high school. State champions."

"Cool. Anyway, Zummy, I figure we owe it to you on account of nearly getting you killed while selling candy bars to terrorists, so we're going to give you a rather unprecedented opportunity." Zummy raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Erin clarified the matter for him. "We're gonna let you ask us questions about EVA. Anything you want to ask, we'll try to answer for you."

"Shit, seriously?!"

"But you can't post it on the internet or anything," admonished Erin. "You have to keep all of this quiet."

"Or else you'll shoot me, right?"

Patrick shook his head. "Naw, we're not going to shoot you." Zummy let out a breath in relief. "Oh, okay then."

"But you see that door?" Patrick pointed to the boarding door on the aircraft and smiled wide. Zummy had to think a bit to determine if Patrick was joking or not.

"Maybe I don't want to know more," Zummy said.

"We're going to Tokyo-3, and into the GeoFront," said Erin with a more serious tone. "You won't be able to ask questions when you get there, and I'm not even sure if they'll take you inside or not. But at least we'll give you a chance to satisfy your curiosity a bit."

"But in return you're not going to let me post any of this," Zumwalt concluded.

"Seems fair, right?," Patrick asked. "You mean well, and you kind of remind me of someone I knew once. Sort of ironic, really?"

"Why's that?"

"Because there probably wouldn't be an EvaChan without Warmaster, would there?"

Zummy's interest escalated. "You knew _Warmaster_?"

Patrick nodded. "Yes, I did. The guy you knew as Warmaster was a bit like you, very smart, good with computers, a bit on the short side, and very curious about EVA. He'd collect all this info and then post it anonymously and all. He was pretty good about it too. Then one day his dream came true."

"What was that?"

"He got his chance to be a pilot," said Patrick. Erin looked away from the two of them, it was still a hard memory of that day for her now years ago.

"And then what?"

Patrick looked right at David. "He died."

"Oh, wow," replied Zummy. "I always wondered what happened to him."

"But anyway, ask away. If you dare."

David Zumwalt took a deep breath. The opportunity in front of him was something he had always fantasized about, finding some inside track into knowing more and more about Evangelion. Now here he sat alone in a private airplane with two former EVA pilots who were giving him the chance to know more, but it came at a steep price.

"So I can't tell anyone then?" Zummy confirmed.

"Absolutely not," said Patrick. "We're not supposed to even be doing this but on account nearly getting you shot yesterday I figure I owe you at least a chance to fill that black hole inside your brain."

"What's going to happen to EvaChan?" Zummy asked the twins. "Are you going to shut it down for good?"

"If we find out that these bad guys were using EvaChan to spy on our friends, then yeah you can kiss it goodbye," said Erin. "But you and I both know that probably some people on that board made backups, and someone else will re-float it. Can't stop that, but we can make sure someone else doesn't get hurt."

"I see," said Zummy. He had to decide how far to go down the rabbit hole. Would he remain just an observer, or now become a player? Being a player might have its rewards but it wasn't exactly safe, and knowing more about EVA could even make him a target one day. But since he learned of Evangelion and what it was, David Zumwalt had always been fascinated by it and especially the fact that children much like himself were the ones who had operated the EVAs. He knew he needed to know why, and that was worth even the silence being asked of him.

"Okay," Zummy said. "I'm in."

"You're sure?" asked Patrick. "Last chance."

"What the hell else am I gonna say? Thanks for the plane ride, have a nice day? Yeah, I'm in."

Erin glanced at Patrick and gave him a half-smile, which Patrick returned. Then they both faced the new kid. "We're probably gonna land in about an hour," said Patrick. "So shoot away."

"Got it. Um, well then…" David took another deep breath and let it out. "What is it, anyway?"

"What do you mean?" asked Patrick.

"The Evangelion. Is it a robot? Is it something else? The Katsuragi book says EVAs are a semi-autonomous bio-mechanical all-purpose fighting unit. But that's basically a robot, right?"

"The answer is no," said Erin. "An EVA is definitely not a robot."

"Then what is it really?"

"It's a clone of an Angel," explained Patrick. "A bit modified."

"A bit? But what I'm getting at is that it's not mechanical with computers and stuff, right? It's biological."

Erin nodded. "Yes, that's true."

"So is it alive?"

"Without getting into a super metaphysical discussion about the meaning of 'alive' let's just say yes," answered Patrick.

"Alive like a beaver or alive like a person?"

"I think you mean can it think for itself," Erin clarified.

"Yeah, that."

The twins looked at each other again, knowing the difficulty of the answer. _How to tell him without getting into what the heck a core is…._

"Let's put it this way," Erin explained further. "EVAs have…personalities. Each EVA is built around the pilot and the pilot interfaces with the EVA and controls it. They obey your commands and they can sometimes even anticipate them or take actions that you would want them to."

"So they have brains then? I don't mean computers, they have actual brains."

Erin sighed. "Yup."

"Holy shit," said Zummy, his fear now quickly receding. "If they have personalities, does it mean they have names? Like can you talk to them?"

"It's not like that at all," Patrick tried to clarify. "The EVAs are like people in that they have brains and a nervous system that controls the unit. The pilot uses brain waves to interface, or sync, with the EVA. But for the most part they work like puppets without strings. We pilot and they do what we command. They don't talk back. " _Usually._

"Brain waves," pondered Zummy. "that's why pilots have those headpieces, the A10s!"

"Yes."

"So there's really no controls inside? Not like joysticks or anything?"

"No."

"Cool. Always wondered how that worked. I've got another question! How do you get chosen as a pilot?"

The twins took a deep breath. "You want to take this one?" Patrick asked Erin.

"I got it," she said, using eye contact with Patrick to assure him she'd be careful with the answer. "Everyone who's ever been a pilot is tied in with NERV," she told Zummy. "While there was this big cover story about a worldwide search for children who could pilot, it's all make-believe. You can't be _born_ as a pilot."

"So how do you get to be a pilot, then?"

"Easy," answered Patrick. "Have relatives that are high up in the NERV ranks. The commander of NERV's own son was one of them."

"They just pick their own kids? That's it?"

"It's like I said earlier," Erin explained. "EVAs are built around the pilot themselves. My dad built Unit 04 around me, and around Patrick. It's tied to us personally, so no one else can pilot it without a lot of changes."

"Unit 04? You're the pilots of Unit 04? The one that vaporized Nevada?"

"It didn't 'vaporize' Nevada," said Patrick, trying to be patient. "It 'accidentally' reacted and created a Dirac Sea using an S2 organ hotwired from an Angel. The singularity took in everything fifty miles in radius from NERV-2, and then threw us back out a month or so later."

"Wait, you mean the current Unit 04's not a rebuilt unit? It's the same one that disappeared?"

"See," Patrick told Zummy. "That's why you can't tell anyone about this."

"So what happened to NERV-2?" Patrick shook his head while Erin sat in silence. "We still don't know," Patrick said.

"But they told everyone that they were dead, like it was blown up," Zummy stated.

"Hey, kid," said Patrick, "I was there and I don't know what the hell happened even now."

"What else can you tell people?" Erin added with resignation. "I knew most everyone who disappeared that day, lucky for me I wasn't there myself. Do you tell people that some giant black hole sucked up the base and put it somewhere else like in another dimension, or even another time period? Or do you just tell them they died? Personally I feel awful about it, all of those people on the base had families who miss them and who want answers. I hope one that that NERV-2 just pops right back there just like Patrick and Unit 04 did. But there's no way to know for sure and giving them what could be a false hope just makes it worse."

"So they just tell relatives and everyone else that they died then. But it's a lie."

"Zummy, half of what you hear about EVA is a lie," Patrick told him. "It has to be."

"Why? Why not just tell people the truth about it? The whole world almost ended, shouldn't people know what really happened?"

"Trust me, kid, you really, really don't want to know everything about EVA. There is shit involved with piloting EVA I would not wish on my worst enemy."

"Such as?"

"Such as this: imaging being inside of a twelve-foot long cylinder filled with liquid that you breathe. You're all alone, you're responsible for piloting this gigantic one hundred and twenty foot monster that can crush you in its hand like flattening a soda can. Then you get attacked by these ginormous other creatures that don't have any mercy or any concern for any kind of life other than their own, and they're out to kill you with their bare hands and these gigantic teeth and rip your EVA and you into tiny little pieces. The only thing you've got to defend yourself is an AT Field, a gun, and some melee weapons and it's a fight to the death. Or imagine this: you're inside your EVA and your base gets attacked by hundreds of missiles armed with N2 warheads, and if you let even one of them through thousands of people will die. So you have no choice but to use yourself as a shield when these things explode. And if one did the heat comes right through your entry plug and boils it so hot that your skin literally…melts…off. THAT'S WHAT IT'S LIKE TO PILOT AN EVA!" By the time he finished his statement Patrick's face was six inches away from Zummys, and as Patrick stared right into the boy's eyes Zummy was again trembling.

"Patrick!" Erin shouted, "Calm down! You're scaring him."

"Good."

"Your skin melts off?" Zummy asked. "Are you serious?"

Instead of answering Zummy's question, Patrick grabbed his wrist and pulled Zummy's hand towards his face, allowing the boy to feel the skin.

"Your face is really soft," Zummy observed.

"It's my third one," Patrick told him coldly. "Miracle of science I still look as good as I do. I can't shave either."

"Why not?"

"No beard hairs. Small price to pay, I suppose."

Zummy now leaned back in his seat, taking all of this in. "I…I guess I never really thought about how dangerous this could all be. But pilots have died, right?"

"Yes," said Patrick. "And those who didn't have the scars to prove they were pilots."

The boy continued with the questions. "How much is really true about EVA? I mean, there's the Katsuragi book, isn't that all true?"

Erin took the answer this time. "Misato's book covers the Angel wars for the most part. Mostly all of that stuff actually happened."

"And then the Japanese SDF and SEELE invaded Tokyo-3 and there was this big battle."

"Right," Erin said.

"And then what? They don't talk much about what happened after Tokyo-3."

"I guess that's were we come in," Patrick added. "The second half of the war was about the Alliance and SEELE fighting it out. The Alliance still runs what's left of NERV, and of EVA, and the Alliance doesn't want anything to get out about what it does with EVA, so practically everything the public knows is the Angel Wars part of it. The other half is still pretty secret."

"How many EVA units were there? I mean really?"

"Let's see," Patrick counted on his fingers. "00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, and then there was 06 in China but it got hijacked by SEELE. And then there was 07, 08, and then 09, those were rebuilt from captured Mass Production units. And that doesn't count SEELE's own mass production EVAs, which must have been a dozen or more all told."

"How many are still around?"

Patrick smiled while feigning shock. "Gosh, you're nozy!"

"I'm just curious!" Zummy defended. "I mean there's still operational EVAs, right?"

"Out of all of those maybe four are left, and not all of those in operating condition. That's all I'm going to say."

"But then that means there's more pilots. The Katsuragi book only identifies five pilots, and one of them was an Angel in disguise. So how many were there?"

"At least one per unit," said Erin, "plus the two of us."

"Do you have to pilot together to make your EVA work?"

"Nope, works with just one pilot," answered Erin. "We've only double-piloted once."

"Any more questions?" asked Patrick as he looked out the window and saw the Japanese coastline, "We're landing soon."

"Yeah, just one more: What does LCL stand for?"

"Hell if I know," said Patrick.

"Wait, you _don't_ know?"

Patrick nodded his head, "Correct." Zummy looked at Erin. "Do you?"

"If anyone knew, they never told us," she answered. "Good luck getting an answer. Even the people at NERV don't know and I asked everyone I knew."

Patrick leaned back in his seat again and smiled slightly. "Zumwalt, I'm really surprised at you! All those questions and you totally forgot about the one reason why you're here."

"What's that….oh, wait. You mean about Reiko? What about her? Is she a pilot too?"

"I don't believe this," Patrick groaned and face-palmed, while Erin actually got out a giggle.

"What, what's so funny?"

Erin explained it to him. "You ran the EvaChan board and you couldn't figure out who Reiko actually was?"

"Well, oh, okay, I get she's a pilot. I mean she said she lived in Hakone and saw the EVA's up close and all."

"Dude," Patrick told him with a smile. "You didn't connect _Rei-ko_ with a pilot named Rei?"

"Rei?" Zumwalt said in astonishment. "You mean like _Rei Ayanami_ Rei?" The twins burst out in laughter.

"That was _her?!_ "

"Yup," said Patrick. "You were study buddies with The First Child and didn't even know it."

"She totally didn't give anything away," said Zummy. "I had no idea."

Erin smiled at him. "That's just like her. It's good, I think she would have been happy to have a friend that had nothing to do with EVA."

"Then I hope we can find her," he said, smiling for perhaps the first time since he boarded the airplane. "And I'll do whatever I can to help."

As their Gulfstream came in on approach to Tokyo-3 the three of them looked out the windows to get a look at NERV's home. The Geofront was still visible from the air, a giant-gaping round crater where the top of the dome had been blown off after successive attacks, and the insides of the Geofront were visible. It had been cleaned up much in the last few years, with the interior lake restored and expanded and the greenery restored. All of the damaged above-ground buildings had been cleared out many months earlier and the few left were extensively remodeled to remove battle damage. The airfield had long ago been rebuilt and so had the train depot next to the welcoming annex above ground. As the students looked towards the Geofront, a new addition was visible from the air.

"What's that?" Erin asked, pointing out something to Patrick. He took a careful look from the airplane window.

"It looks like a bullet train," he told her. "But in Unit 01's colors." Indeed the train was painted purple and green throughout its entire length in a pattern evocative of EVA-01.

"New train service to Tokyo-3?" Erin speculated. "Maybe for the tourists?"

"I didn't know they were opening up NERV for tours yet" said Patrick, "but nothing would surprise me anymore."

Zummy pointed out something else. "What's that?" he asked. The twins saw it and wondered also.

"Large pool of water with something in the middle wrapped up it seems," said Patrick.

"That thing in the middle is huge, whatever it is," observed Erin. "It looks about thirty feet tall."

The pilot of the aircraft came on the speakers instructing the three of them to fasten seatbelts and be prepared to land shortly. The twins and Zummy complied and after a smooth and uneventful landing they were on the ground at Airfield One within five minutes.

As the Gulfstream taxied towards a set of hangars near the runway, Zummy anxiously sat in his seat not sure what to expect next. "Now what?" he asked the twins.

"Well, you are going to have a talk with some friends of mine," Patrick told him as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "They wont hurt you, but please answer any questions they ask, no matter how embarrassing or stupid they are. Anything could be important."

"Will I get to see the Geofront?" Zummy asked.

"Don't know. Alliance Intelligence has its HQ in the city wreckage of Tokyo-3 that still stands outside of here. Not sure if they'll let you come to NERV or not."

Erin put a hand on Zummy's shoulder as he got out of the airline seat. "Just try to cooperate, okay?" She encouraged. "You'll be fine."

"Okay, then. Um, thanks for today, letting me ask questions and all."

"Sure, and hey remember that's under your hat. I don't want to see that stuff online somewhere when all of this is over."

"Yeah, I got it," said Zummy. "I think EvaChan is pretty fried anyway after what happened."

Patrick had changed into a pair of grey slacks and a white button down shirt, accompanied by a sports coat. It was more overdressed than he usually did after a flight, but now he was also working in his capacity as an agent and knew he needed to appear more professional in his appearance. Just before exiting Patrick pulled out his satellite phone and called into Kaji to let him know he had arrived. However it was Satsuki who actually answered.

"Hello, Forrestal-kun," said Satsuki cheerfully. "How was your flight?"

"Good," Patrick replied and then in a low voice. "Any news at all?"

"You'll meet the director and myself at NERV, they'll send a driver to pick you up and we'll collect your witness at the same time."

"Confirmed. Any news about Rei at all? Were they able to track any kind of incoming aircraft that she could have been in?"

"Unfortunately no," said Satsuki. "The Japanese national air defense radar system is currently down."

"Down? The whole country?"

"Correct. JA is causing a lot of trouble. You'll be briefed once you get to NERV, so I'll see you there."

The bulkhead door swung open and the three of them saw a set of stairs that led down to the runway. Waiting below were two utility vehicles, one with two tall Japanese men in dark suits and sunglasses standing by, and another with a young Japanese woman of about twenty years of age, wearing a blue sweater over a white blouse and a blue skirt, with black flats and black hose. She had glasses and long brown hair, and notable freckles on her face, and a large NERV ID hung from her neck with a red lanyard.

"Hello!" shouted Kodama Horaki to the twins. "Over here!"

Patrick gave her a good wave as he got out first, followed by Erin and Zummy trailing behind, who had just before landing threw on a pair of blue jeans and sneakers, and wore a blue athletic polyester jacket. Patrick got to the bottom of the stairway and quickly put Kodama, Hikari's older sister and a staff member at NERV, in an embrace.

"It's so good to see you, both of you!" she said loudly over the aircraft noise, hugging Patrick first and then Erin. "Did you have a good flight?"

"More or less," replied Patrick. "We have a guest with us."

"Ah, yes." Kodama approached Zummy. "Hello, you're David Zumwalt, correct," she said in accented English.

"Yes, that's right."

"My name is Kodama Horaki. Welcome to NERV. You'll be going with these two gentlemen," Kodama motioned to the two large men, one of whom had already ran up the stairs and fetched the luggage of the passengers from the aircraft. "Don't worry, I don't think they'll bite."

David wasn't so sure and looked nervously at his escorts as his duffle bag was sorted out. One agent nodded to another and the other opened the rear door of the vehicle, motioning for Zummy to get inside. Sheepishly, Zummy looked towards the twins and after another reassurance from them that he'd be okay, got inside. The agent slammed the door behind him and got into the vehicle, and as the twins waived at Zummy they drove off with him. The boy still looked worried, and worriedly stared right at them as the car drove down the tarmac and towards the base exit.

"So what did he do?" Kodama asked after the vehicle was out of sight.

"You ever heard of Eva-Chan?" Patrick asked.

"Oh, that. Yeah, I go on there every now and then when I need a good laugh."  
"Is anyone else here?" asked Erin.

"They're all on their way in. Oh look!" said Kodama as she pointed up in the air. "There's Sis now!"

The three of them looked upward and watched as a small-sized tilt-rotor aircraft sped over NERV's airfield at perhaps five hundred feet in altitude. The aircraft was clearly a civilian model, marked with a red and white color scheme over its fuselage and it's two large wing-mounted engines. After buzzing the group of them the tilt-rotor made a sharp hairpin turn and then flipped its engines upward to allow it to hover. Within another minute it had made a soft landing on the airfield not far from where Kodama's vehicle was parked.

A door opened from the side of the tilt-rotor and a small staircase unfolded towards the ground. Out came Hikari, Kodama's younger sister and one of the Evangelion pilots. She was wearing a light-blue shirt dress with black flats, and put on a brimmed hat as soon as she was down the steps and on the ground. Notably, Hikari's hair was now considerably shorter than it had been in the past, as she sported a shorter neck-length hair cut.

Following Hikari out of the aircraft was Toji Suzahara, Hikari's boyfriend and another of the pilots. Toji had been the one at the controls and he removed his headset as he climbed down the steps. Patrick noticed that Toji sported a green-and-white patterned vinyl windsuit with sneakers and smiled: some habits just never changed with people.

Kodama waived at the couple and Toji waived back, and the two of them fetched backpacks from a small compartment under the aircraft. Patrick heard Erin take a deep breath behind him and he turned around, giving her a smile to try and reassure her. Erin smiled back but it was forced, memories of the prior summer no doubt having their effect.

"Dude!" Toji called out to Patrick and they at first hit a high five, and then went into an embrace.

"Good seeing you again!" Patrick said to him in Japanese. He pointed to the tilt-rotor. "Is that yours?"

"Yup," Toji said as he smiled broadly. "Dad gave it to me for my birthday a few months ago. I guess I'm a pilot again."

"Shit, you were really hot-dogging that thing!"

"I like it! Really flies smooth, and I took it all the way from Osaka-2 to here." Hikari caught up to the group and then put her hand around Toji's arm. "How are you?" she asked the twins.

"I guess we're okay," Patrick replied for the both of them. "You cut your hair?"

"Yes, I did," Hikari answered with a little embarrassment. "I just decided that it worked a bit better being shorter. Still getting used to it."

As the others talked, Toji looked at Erin and gave her a slight smile and Erin smiled back for just a moment, then turned away. Patrick saw the exchange and saw that Hikari was doing her best to put up a good front as well, politely greeting Erin.

"How are you, how is the new school?" Hikari asked her.

"Oh, it's fine!" said Erin, smiling broader. "Maybe a little too exciting at times. You guys are still in high school, right?"

"Still in our second year, although we're both planning on taking the early graduation test and just jumping to university in the spring. That is if I can keep Toji focused on his studies."

"What?" Toji defended. "I'm focused!"

Hikari looked up and smirked. "Of course you are. When you're not flying that big toy or playing basketball." There was laughter among the group.

"Hey," Toji said to Patrick in a softer, more serious tone. "We heard about Rei-chan. Have you guys found her yet?"

With that Patrick snapped back to reality. "No," he said to the others. "But she's probably back here, in Japan. I just need to pick up the trail and find her before she gets into any danger."

"I really hope she's okay," said Hikari. "I spoke with Misato and she's so worried!"

"Everyone is, and now suddenly NERV needs pilots again too."

Kodama chimed in. "When it rains, it pours. I've got everyone's IDs so let's get inside and I'll drive you in."

Toji and Patrick packed all of the luggage into the back of Kodama's vehicle and everyone piled in, with Kodama driving, the twins up front with her and Toji and Hikari in the back. As she drove towards the Geo-front the group continued to get caught up with current events.

" _Ane-san_ ," Hikari asked Kodama, "Did Nozomi-chan and Sakura-chan make it in yet?"

"They did," Kodama answered as she drove. "Their train pulled in just a few minutes before the jet landed."

"What…what was that bullet train?" Patrick asked.

"Oh, that. That's the Evangelion Type 500," Kodama declared.

" _That's_ an EVA?" Erin exclaimed.

"Sort of. It's one of father's projects for NERV, uses the EVA control technology for piloting the train. Don't worry," Kodama told them. "it doesn't transform into a fighting machine or anything. Not yet anyway."

Patrick tried to grasp what exactly the EVA Train was. "So, it has a pilot then? And an entry plug?"

"Um hmm," Kodama nodded. "The pilot is Train Boy. You'll probably meet him while you're here."

Patrick and Erin looked at each other, wondering what else had changed since they left Japan the previous year. As the vehicle approached the terminal, Patrick noticed that right of them was the giant wrapped object standing in a pool of water. The object looked bulky from ground level, draped to cover it entirely with grey-colored fabrics that were strapped to the ground. "What's that?" he pointed.

"The Third Impact Memorial," answered Kodama. "Almost completed."

"About time," Toji commented from the rear.

As two Alliance Marines opened up a steel gate for them, Kodama drove through the gap and then into a opening that led to an underground garage. Knowing the way well, she moved through the garage until reaching a car-sized elevator and drove inside. The doorway came down as the SUV fit snugly into the well-lit elevator itself. The way down was lengthy enough for the passengers to feel the air pressure change.

"Have they fixed up the Geofront by now?" Erin asked Kodama.

"A lot of it's cleaned up now but there's still lots of places that are off limits. I'm taking you to the new staff facilities, I don't think they've got the command center ready for us yet."

The elevator reached the bottom and the front door slid quickly upwards, allowing Kodama to drive out and into the underground areas of the Geofront. After about five hundred meters the tunnels gave way to open space and the SUV sped through the interior of the Geofront's dome space, lit by sunlight coming from above. Alongside the road were greenery of grass and small trees. The lake had been re-constructed and was clearly visible from the roadside, with the sparkles of sunlight catching off the surface of the water.

"How much further, Kodama?" asked Toji. "I gotta pee!"

"Almost there," she said cheerfully. Within another minute of driving she parked the van into an open-air parking lot at the very edge of the greenery and against the wall of the GeoFront. Everyone got out and after grabbing luggage went through a doorway guarded by two well-armed Alliance Marines dressed in camouflage uniforms. Each of the kids had their ID checked by the security guards, making sure it corresponded to one displayed on their own tablets, and then let them inside the secure area of the GeoFront.

It was another five minutes of walking followed by another elevator ride that eventually led the group to the new command post set up in what was once a communications post for NERV. As the majority of the GeoFront was either damaged or inoperable, and the old command centers were very large and expensive to operate on a daily basis, NERV had configured a smaller set of rooms for emergency use until the command center could be re-commissioned. As such they were crowded with staff and electronics of all kinds, with LCD displays covering nearly all of the available wall space.

Standing in the middle of the control center and giving instructions to the staff was Makoto Hyuga. Hyuga looked much the same as he did in his earlier control days, with slicked back black hair and black-framed glasses. He was one of the few in the room that wore a military uniform, in his case the cobalt blue and black uniform of the Alliance Space Force and had the rank insignia of a major on his collars.

"We're here, Major," Kodama announced as the group arrived in the control room, and Major Hyuga smiled. "Wonderful, just who we were waiting for." He walked over to greet the pilots, shaking hands with the boys and embracing the ladies. "I hope your travels were safe getting here."

"No trouble," said Toji. "I flew myself here."

"I heard that you dad gave you that new plane! I admit I'm pretty jealous, you'll have to let me take a spin in it when things calm down. In the meantime, we've got a mess on our hands, so if you want to go in the conference room I'll call the others to let them know you've arrived. Kodama-san?"

"Yes, major?"

"Go and find Misato-san, she was on the phone outside. Let her know the rest of the pilots are here."

"Will do," she replied and immediately left to go find Misato. The rest of the kids took a look at the chaos of the new control center as someone else approached them. "Well, hello!" Standing in front was Doctor Maya Hyuga PhD, the former Maya Hibiki, who was the current scientific affairs director at NERV. She was wearing a white lab coat over a blue and purple maternity dress and appeared very pregnant. "It's good to see all of you again!"

"Hello again, Hyuga-san," said Hikari for the group. "How's the baby coming?"

"Almost due," she said. "This one's more trouble than the first one was. Hikari-chan? I know I probably shouldn't bother you, but Akemi-chan is in my office outside and Misato's brought Akira-chan with her. Can you possibly watch over those two during the conference?"

"Well," Hikari said reluctantly, knowing her own responsibilities. "I probably should attend the briefing though."

Toji perked up. "Don't worry, I'll go in your place," he told Hikari. "I'll brief you on everyone once were' done."

Hikari nodded at Toiji and smiled a little, appreciating the help. "Then I guess that's fine!"

"Here, I'll take you to my office. Makoto?" she called for her husband, who came out of meeting with a group of technicians at her call. "Yes, dear?"

"Hikari's going to watch the babies," said Maya as Hikari followed her. "Did the commander make it in, yet?"

"Aoi-san's bringing him in now," he said.

Patrick looked for where the conference room entry door was but as he scanned the communications room standing to the back and leaning against the wall was Ryoki Kaji, wearing a black suit without a necktie. Patrick broke from the group and met up with him.

"Hello, sir!" he reported in.

"Good to see you," Kaji welcomed him with a handshake. "I see you brought a guest with you."

"Yeah, we gave him to interrogation when we got here. Go easy on him, he's gone through enough already."

"As the last person to see Rei, I'm sure that boy can help us fill in some of the gaps in our information. Please attend the meeting here and then see me privately afterwards, we need to discuss a few things."

"Yes, sir."

Outside the room was another NERV officer leaning on another wall and listening on a mobile phone as Kodama found her. Misato was wearing her red leather NERV operations jacket from her earlier days, over a black civilian blouse, slacks, and open-toe heels. Kodama motioned to her that she was needed in the conference room and Misato flashed back five fingers, indicating she'd be there in five minutes once she finished her phone call. Kodama nodded and then left her alone in the hallway.

"Sorry, Shinji," Misato said. "We're getting assembled now, so things are about to get going. I'm glad you made it back to Japan okay but we won't be able to attend the concert again."

"Misato, about that," Shinji asked over the phone. "I was thinking, being as Rei can't be found right now, do you need me?"

"Need you for what?"

"Piloting, of course."

"No."

"No? You're sure?"

"No," Misato confirmed. "I thought we made that clear before. We can do this without you."

"But Misato," Shinji interjected. "Who else is going to pilot? You need someone, right?"

"We have someone, as you already know. Also we called back the Forrestal twins, and one of them can pilot Unit 04. NERV just needs to get the Japanese government to approve breaking the seal on '04's containment so we can trade it with Unit 01. We'll be okay."

"I see. I just feel…"

"…guilty? That someone else has to do this and it should be you."

"Yeah, that's it."

"Now Shinji, I told you before. You did plenty, and when there was no one else that could pilot you were there. But all that is done now for you. Trust us to take care of it."

"I still think that I should be there."

"But don't you have a concert engagement in New Kagoshima City?" Misato asked. "People will be expecting Shinjiro Kaji to be there to play for them. If you don't show up there and if you do show up here instead, word might get out that you and him are the same guy. And that would wreck this whole new identity that you've worked so hard to create. You like the freedom of that, right? Being able to put all of this behind you?'

"Yeah, it's true. But…"

"No buts. That's it, it's settled. Go and play do your job and let us do our jobs. We got this. Really."

Shinji let out a sigh. "Okay, Misato. I got it."

"Good. Now I can't make the concert but I still want to see the two of you, so afterwards give us a call and hopefully we have this runaway robot thing back in its cage again."

"Alright, Misato. Good luck, then!"

"And good luck to you. Love you kid! Bye!" With that Misato hung up the phone and turned around to see Kaji standing there. "That was Shinji. He was volunteering to pilot."

"Of course he would," said Kaji.

"But I'm not going to let someone with a 6% sync get into an EVA, even though I didn't tell him that. We got this, right?"

"Barring any further bumps, I think so." He stepped a bit closer to Misato. "The Forrestals and the Horakis are here, so we can get started."

"Any word on Rei?"

"No, I'm afraid and that's troubling."

"It is," Misato mused.

Next to the communications room was a conference room with a long, oval-shaped table that had twelve seats around it. There were several screens on the walls including a very large LCD that took up one entire wall and that currently showed a multimedia display for the NERV Research Center, which was the new name of NERV facilities at the GeoFront.

Within a couple of minutes the conference room was filled with people, as Misato, Kaji, the Hyugas, both Forrestal twins, and Kodama all took seats along with Toji. Also there was Satsuki Ooi, who would lead off the meeting with the latest intelligence on the Jet Alone situation. Everyone looked to the doorway as the NERV's current commander, Alliance Brigadier General Adam Burke, dressed in a khaki military uniform, entered his bulky frame through the relatively small doorway followed by Aoi Mogami, who was another former NERV controller now working as Burke's assistant. Aoi looked much the same as before, with short-cropped auburn hair and rectangular eye glasses, and she made a quick wave to Satsuki as she entered the room. The two had been close friends during their earlier time at NERV.

"Okay, I'm here," said Burke as he addressed the others in English. "Did the Japanese representative show up yet?"

Others looked around and no one had an answer. "No one's heard from them," Major Hyuga replied. "Did they get the invitation to be here?"

"They did," said Kodama. "I sent it twice to the liaison's office. Although with the new government changeover maybe there's a new person."

"Well during the campaign they weren't all that crazy about NERV being here," Misato noted. "There were proposals to change the hosting agreement."

"As if we don't pay them enough from the monetary residuals from the technology transfers we do," spat Makoto. He was not a fan of the new political party now in power in Japan.

"They should still at least respond to invitations to manage a crisis," Burke said. "We're doing them a favor by offering to help with Jet Alone, they could at least admit they're having some trouble with that." Burke looked at the others. "Then let's get started. If their rep shows up late we'll just brief them afterwards." The general took a seat at the head of the conference table and glanced over at Kaji. "I believe Alliance Intelligence has an update on the latest situation with JA."

"We do," Kaji replied. "Satsuki-san, would you please fill everyone in."

"Yes, sir." Satsuki took her tablet and controlled a video presentation on the large screen in front of the group. "The latest update on JA's location came just under an hour ago. We have this video from Misawa Air Base, in Hokkaido." Satsuki then showed the video recording on the screen, and everyone watched as Jet Alone marched towards yet another Japanese Air Force base as fighters and attack aircraft attempted to stop it.

"Hokkaido?" Makoto exclaimed. "Wasn't JA just in Kasuga, in Kyushu? That's over a thousand kilometers away!"

"How fast is JA's land speed?" Misato asked.

"It was never confirmed by JHCI but it's believed to be capable up to 500 kilometers an hour at a full run," said Kaji. "However it was never tested at that speed while it was active years ago."

Patrick chimed in. "And no one saw a giant robot running across the full length of Japan?"

"Apparently not," Kaji answered. "Satsuki?"

"I'll continue," she said and then proceeded with the remaining video. "JA made another attack on a JAF air defense facility, only this time didn't use the lasers that we saw in the first attack." This fact was displayed as various combat aircraft made diving runs with their missiles and cannon at JA, and JA didn't shoot them down as it did before in the earlier Kasuga raid. "However, it did use it's Electromagnetic Spectrum Weapons this time and this is what happened." She used a laser pointer to show in the video how attack VSTOLs tried to get up-close to JA but were instead suddenly paralyzed by an invisible force, then crashed to the ground below. There were a dozen such explosions trailing the path where JA marched. The giant robot then proceeded to do what it did before, use its gigantic body to crush buildings and radar domes below it. Within a few minutes the airbase was engulfed in flames.

"Attempts to re-acquire JA after the attack also failed. Right now the JAF has no idea where it is."

"Fuck!" said Toji from the back of the room.

"My sentiments exactly," quipped Misato. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, we don't do anything until the Japanese government gives us the go-ahead," said the general, "per the agreement we have with them. That doesn't stop us from preparing, however. Major? How is the staff recall going?"

Makoto Hyuga now reported. "The good news is that we have most of our pilots, save one. If we can get Unit 04 released we'll be able to operate two EVA units at once. The bad news is that personnel are still trickling in, we only have about thirty percent of operations staff and even less of the technical staff."

"The same goes for the scientific team," said Maya Hyuga. "While we have a good core of scientists right here, we have recalls out for all of the associated specialists and they've been slow to come in. Everyone has a life outside of NERV now, it seems."

"Can we operate with what we have on hand now?" asked the commander.

"Barely," said the major. "And probably only in defense of our perimeter. We'll need a full crew in order to deploy an EVA out of area and go on the offensive."

"And we can't expect that JA would just show up here, although I would think that we'd make an enticing target," said Burke. "So start up with a defensive plan and get ready for an incoming assault. I'll ask the Alliance for reinforcements for the defense zone, although based on what we've seen of JA I think we know better than to try and come after it with gunships and fighters." Burke turned again to Kaji. "Does Alliance intel have any idea on where JA might go?"

"JA has now destroyed two of the three main air defense centers of the Japanese Air Force," said Kaji, "so the Ministry of Defense is making a stand at Nagano where the third one is. However there's no real telling where it could show up, especially as it seems to have some sort of stealth movement ability. It could show up practically anywhere in Japan."

"How did we stop it the last time?" Burke asked.

"With an EVA," Misato answered. "And Yours Truly got to get inside of it and mess with its brain."

"Then we have to assume that's the best course of action this time as well. Last question: who is controlling JA? Or is anyone?"

"Unknown," said Kaji. "According to specifications JA was able to be controlled via VHF radio from a ground station, but the range was under a hundred kilometers. It seems from its current course of action that it's Artificial Intelligence brain is pre-empting against it's likely opponents by attacking air bases."

"Why do that?" asked Makoto. "Why not just walk into a big city and just go all Kaiju on it? Or is JA thinking this on its own?"

"I think that would be the most frightening part of this," said Maya. "What if _no one's_ in charge of it?"

"We need a plan to stop it, one way or another," Burke concluded. "Doctor Hyuga, can you work on a way to remotely contact and crack JA's control system computer should the need arise."

"I've already started on it, " replied Maya. "The lack of a satellite feed means we'll have to get physically close to have any chance of contacting it."

"I see. Please give that effort as high as priority as you can. I know that you've got your hands full with taking the EVA's combat capabilities out of mothballs but we'll need something when the time comes."

"I'll put every effort into it."

"Very well. You've all got your jobs, so meeting adjourn…" At that moment the conference door slammed open and a dour faced Japanese woman with a bowl haircut and dressed in a dark suit came through the doorway. "I'm here," the woman said curtly as she marched towards the only open seat left at the conference room table.

"And you are…" asked Burke.

"I'm Yuna Watanabe," the woman said. "I'm your new government liaison."

Burke tried to put as friendly of a face as he could, but the woman's demeanor emitted strong negativity such was her body language. Rushed, pushy, and impatient, Burke sensed that Watanabe could be trouble.

"We're pleased to have you here. I can have Mogami-san fill you in…"

"Why did you start without me?" Watanabe said, cutting Burke off. "You were instructed not to conduct any meeting without my presence. Why did you go ahead?"

"Ahem, we had no such instruction. We issued several invitations with no confirmation and…"

"As you can see there's already a communication malfunction, which strongly indicates the sort of casual and permissive relationship you had with the previous government. Not to mention a considerable lack of respect for your hosts."

"With all due respect, Ms. Watanabe," Burke said, "There's a crisis and NERV is responding…"

"NERV is not responding because NERV has not been asked for help as of yet," said Watanabe, again cutting Burke off.

"Ms. Watanabe," said Burke, "You have a giant, runaway robot powered by a nuclear reactor that has blown up two air force bases so far. You need options to rectify this situation and we can provide those."

"I assure you that the government and the Ministry of Defense has the matter completely in hand," replied Watanabe curtly. "If help is needed we will request it if and when becomes necessary."

At this point Misato, her patience already wearing much thinner since the new liaison entered the room, faced off with Watanabe. "By the time you get around to asking for help there's going to be a dozen cities raised to the ground. Do you really think you're going to stop Jet Alone with fighter jets and tanks? I would have thought after seeing Angels and EVAs kick the Army's ass a few times you'd understand what kind of operation this is."

Watanabe glared at Misato. "And I suppose NERV has a convenient solution to all of this?"

"Better yet," said Misato smugly. "We've actually done it before, which is more I can say for the Ministry the last time there was a runaway robot." Burke then interjected, trying to calm the situation down. "All we're trying to do is be prepared for the eventually NERV will need to employ the Evangelions. Per the current agreement with the Japanese government, we're not going to employ them out of our area of responsibility until authorized but it takes time and effort to prepare for what we might have to do."

"Let me make something immediately clear, Brigadier," declared Watanabe as she wagged her fist at the commander. "NERV is absolutely not to get involved in this matter until formally requested, and furthermore" she said as she looked at Misato, "don't think this is a 'break the rules now and ask for forgiveness later' type of an event. I assure you we will be very intolerant of any willful misinterpretations of the hosting agreement."

Burke put his hands in the air in mock surrender, wondering to himself _what the heck got into this bitch?_ "All we're gonna do is get prepared for action should it be necessary. Now that you've made your point all we need from the government is permission to break the seals on Unit 04's suspension and we'll keep out of your way."

"Break the seals?!" Watanabe said in surprise. "Whatever for? You're allow to have two active units per the treaty. What do you need a third unit active for?"

"The pilot of Unit 01 is currently unavailable," said Major Hyuga, who was following along the conversation. "We need to activate Unit 04 so that we can have two units. Right now we only have one."

"Your pilot is unavailable?" repeated the liaison.

"Correct," said Misato. "So we need '04 reactivated, and we'll put '01 in status for the time being."

"What about the other pilot?" asked Watanabe.

"What _other_ pilot?" said Misato

"The one that currently in Japan giving musical concerts. Surely if this is such an emergency he's available."

 _How did she know Shinji's even here? He's using his alias, not his real name_. "Pilot Ikari is no longer affiliated with NERV, he's incapable of piloting the unit."

"According to our own information," Watanabe addressed Misato, stepping closer to her as she did so, "it's quite impossible that he's incapable. He may have a low sync ratio, but that doesn't mean he cannot pilot. Even NERV employed pilots with zero sync ratios while in action."

 _What the hell?_ "NERV did that only as a last-ditch measure and not to properly operate a unit," explained Misato in exasperation. "Basically Unit 01 cannot currently be used, we're willing to put it in stasis and swap it out for a unit which is functional and that we have another pilot for. What's wrong with doing that?"

"Denied," ordered the liaison.

At this point Misato completely lost her temper. "DENIED!? WHAT THE HELL FOR!?" Despite facing a furious Misato, Watanabe remained completely calm. "I said denied. As long as you have a pilot for the unit available in the country, you will use that pilot. We are not going to give NERV an excuse to violate the host agreement by releasing a third EVA unit."

Misato leaned even further into the liaison, her eyes bulging with emotion. "Just how many people are you going to get killed with your latent, bureaucratic stupidity?"

"It's just this sort of attitude that we're going to seek to correct, Colonel Kaji," said the liaison, who didn't even bat an eye at Misato's furious demeaner. "Perhaps in years past Japan has been at the beck and call of NERV but that will no longer be the case. If there's any culpability in this situation, it's because NERV interfered with Jet Alone's initial trial evaluation three years ago, so consider our actions a remedy to a problem that your organization created," said Watanabe coldly. That was more than enough to provoke Misato.

"We didn't fucking do this!" Misato shouted, lunging for the liaison until both Kaji and Makoto held her back by the arms. "YOU IDIOT!"


	16. Guilded Cage

In the hallway away from the others, Misato pounded a storage locker with her feet as Kaji and Patrick watched.

"And I thought I had a bad temper," Patrick whispered to Kaji under his breath.

Kaji smiled back to him, "it's what so endearing about her. She looks lovely when she's angry."

"STUPID STUPID STUPID!" shouted Misato as she put several dents into the locker, hitting it hard enough to knock one of her shoes off. "What the hell do they think this is?" She turned around and saw she had an audience of two and then managed to regain some self control.

"It's a good think Akira-chan isn't here to see his mommy bust up the place," Kaji said with a smirk.

"Sorry," Misato growled, still not quite over her anger. "I cannot believe I actually to have this discussion. Who the hell is she anyway?"

"From what I know of Watanabe, she has a considerable devotion to the political process," said Kaji. "You may find her formidable."

"Mindlessly stubborn is more like it," She then smirked at Kaji. "You sure you don't have photos of her hooked up with some other politician we could use as leverage?"

Kaji scoffed. "With _her_?" he asked, pointing to the other room where Watanabe had been earlier. "Who'd be willing? More seriously her reputation suggests she doesn't lead much of a personal life at all. You'd be better off finding ways to work around her than with her, I'm afraid."

"So the government sends us a nanny this time," said Misato. "I hated my nanny."

"We should move accordingly. Patrick? Can you join us for a few moments, I need to discuss the situation with the First Child." The three of them found a nearby vacant office and closed the door, then found seats around a very small table.

Misato had by now completely regained her composure. "Have you found anything?" she asked Patrick. "Kaji said you ran into some trouble back in the US?"

"I did. Whatever trouble Rei has gotten to, Lillith Cult is definitely behind it," said Patrick.

"So it was them who took her?"

"Honestly, Misato," Patrick said with some reluctance. "It doesn't look she was taken. No one came to her apartment and dragged her away."

"But maybe she was coerced?" asked Misato. "That doesn't seem like Rei at all, to just go walking off like that at the request of some group of people that tried to take her earlier."

"Or someone had a great deal of influence over her," said Kaji.

"And just who would that be?" The three of them were silent for a moment and then the realization came to Misato. "Oh, shit. Not him?"

"There's no evidence to suggest the former commander was involved in this," said Kaji. "We keep him in good, constant contact and nothing unusual has been observed from him since her disappearance."

"Does he even know?"

"We haven't told him, so unless Shinji himself contacted him which I very seriously doubt, he shouldn't know anything."

"There's another issue," offered Patrick. "We expected that whoever had her now was trying to fly her back into Japan right about now. Did anyone spot anything, like an airplane, coming into Japanese airspace?"

"Nothing," said Kaji. "The Alliance Western Pacific fleet hasn't reported any signs of a rogue aircraft coming from North America towards Japan. Unfortunately thanks to JA Japan's own air defense system happens to be down at the moment."

"Yeah," said Patrick. "Just at the exact time we needed it."

Kaji was about to reply until he realized what Patrick was saying. "Go on," he instructed.

"Don't you think it's coincidental timing that the air defense system goes down just as we're trying to track aircraft coming into Japan? I mean, at the briefing JA's busted up two radar systems and might be going after #3. Instead of like, attacking something more juicy like a city or even the GeoFront."

"Doing puzzles in your head, aren't you?" asked Kaji.

"I can't say that I could prove it, but I got to thinking about it during the conference," explained Patrick, "Hell of a time for a distraction, isn't it."

Misato realized how serious this could be if what seemed like two separate crisis were in fact one. "If the Lillith Cult were the ones who hijacked JA, God only knows what they would do with it."

"So we have a missing nuclear-powered robot and a missing EVA pilot, actually not just an EVA pilot but something a lot more," said Kaji. "And a cult that could be behind both events. But to take JA would indicate the Lillith Cult has a technical expertise they so far haven't displayed. They might be getting help."

"Did you ever track down any of the JHCI people who built Jet Alone?" asked Misato. "Maybe one of them."

"We did," said Kaji. "Among the chief designers and engineers no one's unaccounted for. Most are either now retired or within other firms. As far as the corporate heads go, there were seven men on the board of JHCI. Two committed suicide within three months of the incident, another was killed in an industrial accident within the same year. Two others have since died of natural causes, and one now runs a coffee shop in Izumi. He's accounted for."

"And what about that smarmy guy at the head? Tokiwa or whatever his name was."

"Dead, apparently," said Kaji. "JA's failure let to his dismissal and eventually bankrupted him. As of last year Shoji Tokiwa was living in a homeless camp under a bridge in Tokyo-2. Once this started we sent agents to find his current location and we were then informed by city authorities that he had died some months ago. I'm just waiting for Takao to confirm the details."

"So who's behind this then," Misato mused. "If JA and Rei's disappearance are linked together, I could only think of one person who had an interest in both of them." She looked directly at Kaji and he knew the meaning without having to ask.

"Then I need to go see him, if for nothing else to eliminate him from the list of suspects." He turned to Patrick. "Forrestal, get on a high speed train and to go Kumamoto tonight. Once you're there meet with the president of the Itsuki Foods Company, they'll help you to trace those packages and find out the connection between our bad guys in Boston and the Lillith Cult, and then hopefully find our missing angel."

"Shouldn't I go with you to see Commander Ikari?" asked Patrick. "If anyone would know where Rei might be, it might be him."

"No," replied Kaji. "Let me handle him. I realize this may seem to you like more boring police work but I assure you it's necessary that you do this, as you were the last to see the assailant. I'm hoping to find surveillance video footage of him buying the ramen. So please get going and let's keep in touch."

* * *

While Patrick was discussing Rei's disappearance with Kaji and Misato, Erin silently peeled away from the others and found her way down to the lower levels of the GeoFront. It took some time to reach the sub-levels were the inactive Evangelion units were stored but after thirty minutes of riding multiple elevators and moving through a variety of dark corridors Erin found the Vault: a vast chamber consisting of several giant capsules framed in steel and filled with red-colored bakelite made from LCL. There were four such capsules in the GeoFront's sub-levels, two of which were empty and two of which contained units.

Erin walked slowly in the dim lighting, using her mobile phone as a flashlight until she reached an open area of the Vault that was bathed in a red glow that Erin couldn't see where it came from. The EVAs were inside those cells, she knew, even if the bakelite covered them up completely from view.

The giant cell on the left had a steel frame that reached to the full height of the EVA unit inside. There was a cross pattern made of seal and decorated with sealing glyphs on the front of the cell capsule. Directly on the center of the cross was a giant "02" indicating that Evangelion Unit 02, Asuka's own unit, was encased inside. On top of the 02 number was another round-shaped object, a disk with a government logo on it, which showed that the cell was sealed and the unit would not be permitted to be taken out without the seal being removed. Erin walked onward and over to the adjoining cell.

The second cell appeared as the first did, only with the number "04" on the front. Erin saw that the same seal was placed over the number as was also on Unit 02, and she felt her heart sink. The EVA, her EVA, would not be freed from its slumber.

When the twins had earlier come to Japan for their schooling, for a short period of time they also helped NERV conduct tests on Unit 04 as part of their ongoing research. Usually this entailed only activating the unit and little more, and either Erin or Patrick could manage this quite easily. However not long after they started it was noticed by the NERV staff and by the twins themselves that their sync rate with the EVA was declining rapidly. What had previously been a solid fifty or sixty percent sync for either of them had dropped to less than twenty within three months of the research program. The same was also true for Shinji in Unit 01, who's sync rate went down from the high seventies to below fifteen within the same three months, and Hikari's rate with Unit 09 was lower than ten percent. As Unit 02 had never fully recovered its damage done in the raid on SEELE's mountain base, Asuka had never entered the unit since so her situation was unknown. Only Rei could consistently maintain a high sync rate with the EVAs. Despite efforts by Maya and the scientific team at NERV, no one could determine the cause of the dropping sync levels and this matter was kept very secret by the NERV staff.

The result of this was that NERV was only able to operate two units at one time, Unit 01, from whom Rei was now the primary pilot, and Unit 09, which having no S2 engine and only a power cable limited its actions and endurance, was used in a secondary test program with Hikari still piloting on occasion. As both Forrestal twins now had poor sync rates, a decision was made to keep Unit 04 in bakelite stasis along with Unit 02. This had disappointed Erin greatly, and she had reluctantly watched as Unit 04 was put in storage for an unknown future.

In returning to Japan now, Erin had hoped to once again get a chance to reconnect with Unit 04. So much of her life was tied to the unit, she felt, so much of her purpose still determined by it. She wanted the familiarity of the entry plug again, to feel the LCL in her lungs and her hands on the actuators, ready for action. But her last sync had been twelve percent, and even Erin knew her ability to pilot or even just communicate with the EVA was somehow coming to an end. And she felt sad for it.

'Hey!" Erin swiveled around and saw Patrick just behind her, waiving at her. She forced a smile and waved back, and he walked right up to where she was standing, just a few feet away from the EVA on the steel gantry that led up to the unit.

"Thought I'd find you here" she told her. "Sucks balls that they won't let her out."

"Not like we can pilot much anyway these days," Erin said cynically.

"Still you want another shot at it, right?"

"Yup," said Erin. "Just one more chance. That's all I ask."

Patrick sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "I got more good news."

"What is it? Did they find Rei?"

"No," he said. "But they're sending me down to Kyushu to go search for whoever took her."

"Is that going to help? How long does she still have?"

"less than four days, gonna be less then three by the time I get down there. But if they flew her to Japan whatever plane she came in hasn't been spotted, and Olivia told me nothing found back home in the US. She's gotta be here in Japan, but no one's got a clue where."

"Oh my God," said Erin. "Oh, Patrick. Something will turn up. It has to!"

"I know," he replied. "Kaji's going to also track down another possible lead, but this Jet Alone thing has kind of messed up the situation a lot. I'm starting to get really worried."

"She'll be alright, somehow, " Erin told him. He took her hands and looked at her. "Anyway I got to leave now and go on the hunt. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just not sure what I'm gonna do here other than watch and be worried all the time."

"I'll keep you posted if I learn anything more," Patrick said. "So take care, okay?" Erin leaned into him and embraced him tightly, and then they parted. Erin still holding onto Patrick's hand. She didn't let go just yet, as there was something else she needed to tell her twin.

"Hey, bro?" she said to Patrick, "you didn't ask me about what happened with Diego."

"I didn't need to," he answered. "I knew what happened the first time I saw you again."

"So, you don't think badly of me , do you?"

"No," said Patrick, "I don't. It was something you had to work out for yourself, although I had my hunches."

"I should have listened to you more back then," Erin told him. "So much for following my heart."

"Hey, no one ever gets this thing right," Patrick said as he smiled at her. "As long as you learned from it."

"That I did," she said. "Good luck, bro," she let go of his hand, smiling back at him. "And good hunting!"

* * *

The previous twenty-four hours had been a blur of numbness and disorientation for Rei. She felt disjointed from her body, as if she was floating in space watching herself being led from place to place by other people. She had been moved by vehicle, then by boat, then by aircraft and then after a lengthy flight to yet another boat, and yet another vehicle, and now finally here although she did not know where "here" was. She was barely spoken to, in fact she was barely even looked at directly with her silent captors only giving her hand motions showing her where to go and what to do.

Where she had ended up was dark and drafty, with a chill air inside of candlelit chambers. The structure where she was kept smelt of old wood and mildew, mixed with the scents of charcoal, ash, and a strong smell of incense. Moved one more time within whatever building or cave she was in (she couldn't tell) she had finally be placed in a spacious room with bamboo paper walls and a tatami floor. In contrast to how she was transported this final room was quiet and immaculately clean. Exhausted beyond her senses, Rei collapsed on the tatami floor and slept.

When she finally woke she was still alone in the room but placed next to her were a neatly-folded set of robes. Still in the same clothes she borrowed from Zummy, Rei herself was anxious to change and started removing the sweaty outerwear when she noticed that the bamboo doors on one side had been opened to reveal another room, one with a wooden bathtub placed in the center.

 _What is this place? Seems like a ryokan onsen inn._

Rei walked over to the sitting tub and carefully placed her hand in the water. It was slightly hot, warm enough to be comfortable to bathe in, and Rei could smell that fragrant plants and spices had been placed in the water itself. This wasn't just a bath, this was a beauty treatment.

Deciding that the logical thing to do was to at least get clean, Rei proceeded to remove all of her clothing, and then looked for a traditional bathing pail and platform, which she found right to the side of the bathtub in a separate chamber made up of wood. As anyone in Meiji-era Japan would have done to get clean, Rei knelt on the wooden floor, promptly lifted the pail of water and poured it over herself. There was a second pail and a third some feet away, so Rei used the second pail for her hair, and then found an ointment in a small jar that she determined was traditional hair cleaner. After using it she used the third pail to rinse, and then got up off the wooden floor and placed her now-clean body in the still-warm bathwater.

As she soaked in the bath Rei considered her current situation. She wasn't strictly considered "kidnapped" as she came to these people of her own volition, although that was not entirely true either. But since appearing in their presence she was treated gently, and not touched or even looked at by any members of the cult. From that and from the luxurious amenities of where she was now kept, it was clear that the cult gave her a great deal of reverence or at least wanted to make her as comfortable as they could.

What was not answered at this point was what exactly did the cult want with Rei. Why she was important seemed obvious, they had learned of her role in Third Impact and the connection to the Second Angel, Lillith. But what role they expected her to now fulfill was still a mystery, and one she needed to find out to determine if her decision to surrender herself had been worth the price.

Within another hour she had completed her bath and had dressed in the new clothes provided for her. The robe was a kimono of white, silver, and blue made nearly entirely from silk, and of very high quality silk at that. As she had put it on, Rei realized that this apparel wasn't simply the way a guest would be treated, it was the way that royalty would be treated and that gave her further insight to her captors motivations.

There was a knock on the door but Rei at first didn't answer. There was a second nock follow by a woman's voice speaking Japanese within very formal grammar, the traditional speech known as _kaigo_. "My lady, may we not enter? We must clean your bath please."

" _Hai_ " was Rei's simple reply, spoken nearly at a whisper, and the door slid open. Two women dressed in red decorated kimonos entered, followed by another each bearing a tray. The first two women walked forward, said "please excuse us" to and bowed deeply without making any eye contact, then moved to clean up the bathroom. The second two ladies also bowed with their hands still upholding their trays, then knelt in unison in front of a table and laid out their trays. Each contained food, carefully crafted and presented and including vegetables, rice, and soup all prepared under traditional Japanese gourmet methods which Rei recognized as _kaiseki ryori_. As with the others, the food tray ladies made no eye contact with Rei and were apologetic about practically everything they did, as the made the bed and cleaned up around the room while Rei stood there and watched.

"My lady,' said one of the ladies, "please eat."

 _Should I eat at all?_ Rei asked herself. She was not hungry, and she hadn't eaten anything since leaving her apartment. Still she knelt at the table and then watched as the maids finished with the room and exited. After they left Rei simply remained at the table, only satisfying herself with a few sips of the miso soup provided there, which she had to admit was one of the most delicious she had ever tasted.

Rei remained at the table for some time, waiting for someone to come and take the food as she assumed the maids would do after a while. Someone did approach the room eventually, but unlike the maids this person didn't ask for permission to enter and instead just slid the door open.

The man entered and sat down across from Rei. He was dressed in a traditional Shinto priests' robes but instead of a shaven head his was with hair that fell to his neck. The man wore round wire-framed glasses that illuminated small black eyes, and he had a slight smile as he looked at Rei directly.

"My lady," he said in Japanese, "how are your accommodations? I hope you find this humble abode suitable?"

Rei was in no mood for small talk. Looking straight at the man, she said without emotion "Why did you bring me here?"

"We did not," he told her. "I believe you came of your own accord."

"Compelled by your threats to others," said Rei.

"Please, my lady," said the man. "There's been enough death dealt out already. I've only asked you here to come and put these matters to an end."

"What do you want with me?"

"We only ask," said the man, "that you take your rightful place at the head of humanity. Surely that is your birthright as it were, no?"

"I am not who you think I am," she said.

"And just who is that? Yes, you wear the mask of one who is named Rei Ayanami, and you live a life that you would term simple and unassuming. But we both know the truth of this. The one called Rei Ayanami is but a construct, designed to misdirect others from your true nature."

"That is not true. I am me."

"Really?" said the older man. "If your body were to cease functioning, would you die?"

"Yes."

"But I can just as easily take something inside of you and place it into another body, couldn't I? And if I did so then the one known as Rei Ayanami would no longer exist. Instead it would be that which is now still inside of you, which would create an entirely new and different person. Oh, the core would be the same as you have now, but it wouldn't be you, would it?"

For the first time in a very long time Rei felt a certain type of fear. The stranger indeed knew much about her, and the truth of her condition, that deep inside her body there was a core, a physical one, that was not unlike the Evangelions themselves. It was the means by which she had been reborn again and again, but now the stranger was presenting a new and sinister means of taking that core for his own ends.

"You…you cannot do this."

"Oh, but I can," the man said. "All I need do is to wait for your body to fail, which it will do so if it is not stabilized with medication and later with treatment, stabilization that must take place at a certain type of facility. If you don't receive this within a matter of days, your body will begin to reject the LCL inside of you and it will eventually lose its shape and separate into pieces, leaving only the core inside. I can then take that core and place it into something new, something far better than a mortal body."

"I will not allow you to do this."

"Then I suggest you cooperate with us fully, and abandon the identity that you wear as a mask. Otherwise we will make good on promises that I discussed in my earlier letter to you."

"If you have so much reverence for me as your people have shown, why can you not also respect my being and my own identity as well as that of my family," asked Rei. "What harm have these people come to show you?"

"Denial of the truth is harm enough," said the man. "And anyone who denies such truth is forfeit to the power of it. That also includes the one known as Rei Ayanami, for if she denies who she truly is, we will seek to set the matter right…with or without your cooperation."

"By watching this body die," asked Rei.

"Yes, by doing so. Oh, since you've been here you've probably contemplated if you could escape. I'm quite sure you could, as all you would have to do would be to establish your AT Field and you would be impervious to any attempt to stop you from leaving. However, in doing so I would be compelled to carry out what I had sworn to do earlier. Oh yes, you'd survive, but you would not prevail."

To reinforce this threat with Rei, the man pulled out a small tabled from underneath his robes, and opened up several photos to show her. The photos featured several people that she knew well, who were very close to her, and that the photos were taken from some distance. She also knew the photos were very recent, taken within Japan and probably within the last day.

"As you can see," said the stranger, "we have a very close presence to those we spoke of. If you choose to not cooperate with us, they will feel the consequences as I told you earlier."

"What must I do then?"

"You have two choices, as I see it. One is that you can continue to resist but remain here in our care. If you do so, your body will eventually fail and we will dispose of it and take the core of the Angel within you and create a new, more perfect body. You will be gone but your loved ones will not be harmed. Or, you can cooperate with us fully, completely, under your true identity and your true nature. You will lead us into the new world that was promised. In this way, you can still ensure the safety of those around you and you still have memories of them, but you will no longer be Rei Ayanami. The choice is yours."

Rei didn't answer back, but instead stared right at the man with what looked on the outside as simply a straightforward glance, but inside of her was a fire lit of anger.

"I don't expect an answer now," said the man. "So please enjoy our hospitality and we will wait until the time comes, which can't be that long from now." He then stood up from the table and walked towards the open door, followed by two maids who had been cleaning up the room while they were conversing. The bamboo doors then closed shut and Rei was alone again.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, still holding back the fear and anger she felt. She also felt humiliation, as by taking the invitation initially offered to her she had indeed earnestly hoped to persuade these people not to harm others in her name, or at least in the name of Lillith. But that also had failed. Instead she had been led into a trap, a trap she had fallen right in.

Rei opened her eyes and looked down at herself, dressed in the finest silks but still a prisoner. _I've done a stupid thing…._

* * *

Erin woke up the next morning in her guest bedroom. Cramped small, the room had barely enough space for a twin sized bed and a shower/bath capsule, plus a closet for her things. NERV wasn't a hotel, she reminded herself, and promptly got herself cleaned up and dressed for the morning.

Pilots and related family and guests had been put into a secure floor that had several bedrooms and a common room at the end with a kitchenette, tables, chairs and a video monitor. Erin walked down the hallway and saw that nearly all of the other bedroom doors were shut, everyone taking their time to get ready or perhaps even sleeping in. In front of one bedroom she noticed two sets of slippers, one ladies and one mens, and knew that it was Toji's room, and that Hikari was also inside. The outside door was firmly shut and there was silence from the room, but Erin couldn't help but wonder what they were doing.

 _I bet they're naked, just lying there after they did it_ , she thought. _Well, it's what he wanted after all._

Pushing the images in her head aside, Erin made her way to the common room and saw one boy there, setting up what looked like a video game console on the monitor's plug in panel. The boy was Japanese, with medium brown hair that stood up a little, and he looked about thirteen or fourteen years of age. He wore a red-white-and blue patterned set of fleece sweats. As he worked he didn't notice that Erin had walked into the room, and Erin quietly let him be as she went for the refrigerator in search of juice.

The noise of Erin opening up the refrigerator door caught the boy's attention and he suddenly turned around. "Oh! Hi there!" he spoke to her in Japanese. "I mean, Good morning!" he also said in English.

Erin smiled at him, orange juice pitcher in hand. "Good morning!" she replied in accentless Japanese.

The boy stood up to introduce himself. "You must be Forrestal-chan."

"I am. And you are… _Train Boy_?"

The boy giggled a little. "Yup, I guess that's me. My name's actually Hayato, Hayato Hatsugi."

"Is that bullet train outside yours?"

"I guess you can say that. We call it the EVA Type 500, and I'm the test pilot for it. Although, I guess I'm not the same kind of pilot that you are."

 _There's a way to find out if you are_. "I bet your parents are quite proud," she told him.

"Yeah, my mom and dad were sort of scared at first of me doing this, but they're pretty happy with hit now. And my sister wants to drive too now."

 _An ordinary kid, thankfully._ "But it's just a train, right?"

"Well, not just a train. The EVA Type 500 uses the Evangelion's control plug technology to drive the train, it's sort of an experiment on how you can apply the technology to non-EVA things."

"So, you have an entry plug and A10s and all that?"

Hayato smiled a little in embarrassment. "Not exactly the same, but close. Anyway we don't fight Angels or anything, so I guess it's just a train in the end. Still exciting though."

Erin poured herself two glasses of juice and offered one to Hayato, who took it and promptly downed it. "Are you here to pilot EVA then?" he asked her.

"I was supposed to be, but that sort of got messed up last night. Now I'm not even sure what I'm doing here."

Before they could continue the phone in Erin's pocket buzzed and she pulled it out, seeing an unfamiliar number that originated from Japan. Wondering if was Patrick or even possibly Rei, she answered it quickly.

"Hello?!"

"Forrestal-chan," said Maya, "Good morning."

"Oh, good morning!"

"Seeing as you're up already, are you free to help me with something?"

"Apparently I have nothing else to do so yes, sure."

"Great! Meet me in front of the guest suites in five minutes and bring something to wear for physical activity, you'll need it."

Erin chuckled a little, glancing at the polyester green windsuit she was currently wearing. "Got that covered already, actually."

After confirming with Maya on where they'd meet Erin hung up the phone and then parted ways with Hayato, snagging a muffin from the countertop before she left the common room. Walking back down the hallway she noticed that Hikari was now out of Toji's room and standing in front of another door, this one with two girls' pairs of slippers in front. "Nozomi-chan, wake up already!"

"Having trouble getting her out of bed?" Erin quipped to Hikari. This startled Hikari, "Oh, hi! Good morning!"

Erin tried her best to be on a good front with her one-time rival. "Good morning, Hikari-chan."

"Did you sleep okay?"

"I guess, considering my twin brother is out there trying to find my missing best friend with nothing else to go on but a discarded ramen package, I slept okay."

Hikari was taken aback by Erin's reply, "I'm sorry," she said, "Everyone's so worried about Rei-chan. I'm sure she's fine wherever she is."

"Hikari?" a voice came from the room, and she looked shocked when she turned around, motioning violently to Toji to do something. "Um, excuse me," and then to Toji she whispered. "Put that on!" Erin's eyebrows went up in surprise.

Toji's head popped out of the doorway, with hair tussled from sleep. "Oh, hi Erin," he said in English, also surprised to see her standing there in front of him and Hikari.

"Um, Good morning," Erin blustered out.

"Uh, let me get something on here…"

"It's okay, gotta go! Bye!" said Erin as she bolted for her own room. Leaving the others behind, she quickly opened the door, switched her slippers for runners, and then flew out the outside door. Waiting for her was Maya, who sat on an electric scooter with a helmet on. She wore her white lab coat over a blue maternity dress that was bulging in front.

"Oh, good morning Erin-chan!" said Maya. "Hop on, please!"

Erin promptly grabbed a second helmet that was hooked onto the scooter's back seat, and then after she put it on hopped on the rear seat and Maya took off with the both of them.

"Are we going that far so you need a scooter to get there?" said Erin.

"It's not too far, but it's just that I'm not very mobile these days," replied Maya. "This thing comes in handy getting around." Indeed the ride only lasted five minutes of Maya running through a series of hallways, passing by only a few other people on the way.

Where they ended up with another dark corner of the GeoFront's labyrinth of now unused laboratories and workspaces, barely lit by flickering LED lighting overhead. Maya stopped the scooter and got off with some struggle, and both her and Erin removed their helmets as they looked for one area in particular. Maya found the door and promptly slid he security card on a lock to the right side and the door slid open.

As they entered the room lit up automatically and brightly, revealing a completely open space about four meters by four meters. While the room had no furniture of any kind, notably all four of the walls were fitted with projection displays that took up the entire space of each wall.

"What is this place?" Erin asked.

Instead of immediately answering, Maya used her mobile phone to issue a set of commands and suddenly the four walls of the room came alive with various graphics, including technical images of an Evangelion and a tactical map of the GeoFront itself. On each wall was emblazoned, in both English and Japanese, VIRTUAL EVANGELION.

"Welcome to the Virtual EVA," said Maya.

"What? What is a _virtual_ EVA?"

Maya turned to explain. "Because we were experimenting with applying the EVA unit control system to other uses, one of the projects we worked on involved a new type of neural linkage that uses a gaseous form of LCL. It's the same LCL you experience in the entry plug, but with the molecular density about .005% of the liquid form."

"Meaning you can breath it?" Erin asked as she followed along.

"In combination with either an oxygen environment or even just mixed in with regular air. Has to be carefully filtered however, but using LCL gas would allow for control of something using neural interfaces in a similar way that the EVA does."

"I get that, but where does the virtual EVA part come in?"

Maya explained further as she walked to the wall and motioned for a drawer to pop out. "Because we only have two Eva units that can be called on in case of an emergency, we felt we needed at least something further to defend the GeoFront. We can't, or rather we won't make another Evangelion, but what we can do is create a fully digital version of one, and use the Virtual EVA to control it." Out of the drawer Maya picked up several objects and then approached Erin.

"So it's a digital simulation of an EVA then," Erin recapped.

"Yes, but it does more than just work as a simulation. Virtual EVA was designed to work as a defensive screen against non-Angel, or technological types of threats. Basically nearly any type of military hardware has a CPU at the heart of it, and that CPU and the circuitry surrounding it can be attacked with a digital weapon system. So Virtual EVA serves as a defensive platform that can control a variety of electronic warfare devices, all based on VTOL drones that are housed here in the GeoFront."

"Interesting," said Erin. "But it fights like an EVA."

"Correct, complete with a simulation of AT Fields and all, although the analog is not exactly the same as a real EVA. What happens is that you control it remotely with full-body motion using this control room, as if you're the EVA itself. The VTOL units then project digital images and other information on the outside. If needed, you can create a hologram that appears as an EVA to the outsider, and while it's not physically there that sort of "scarecrow" might be enough to scare off someone. If not, then you have the whole arsenal of digital attacks houses within the program along with a tie-in to the Alliance's Artillery Fire Control center in case you needed actual kinetic punch." Maya shrugged a little. "I admit it's not a perfect system, and truthfully it's not even tested much, but considering our current circumstances with only one active EVA I felt that this would be useful. Here." She handed Erin the objects. "These are wrist and ankle sensors, and there's a modified A10 headband there too. So put these on and I'll start up the system."

 _Cool_ thought Erin. "I think I can do this."

"When you went to school here last year I used to watch you on the rhythmic gymnastics team so I figured you'd be a perfect candidate to operate in any case. And considering that your programming and computer skills are already pretty good…"

"Can't wait, then," said Erin. She then promptly stripped off her sweatsuit and runners, revealing a simple nylon black tank leotard underneath. Intuitively she put on the ankle and wrist banks and then slipped on the new A10 headband, this one appearing as a more normal headband similar to Mari's own A10 controller with larger triangular-shaped emitter/sensors on either side. "Is this right?" she asked Maya.

"Yes, it's correct. OK now I'll leave the room and start up the program. The LCL gas will come out first, so just blow air out of your lungs when it first comes in and then breath in for a minute. It's a little strange at first but you'll quickly get used to it." With that Maya went out the side door and after the door shut the graphics on the walls switched to a rainbow-colored set of fast moving graphics that greatly resembled the EVA's start-up sequence.

Erin heard hissing above here and then took a deep breath, and blew out the air with her mouth. Her next breath tasted strangely salty and she choked at first, but she took another breath and that time was smoother. After a few more intakes she was breathing normally with the LCL gas.

"Are you okay?" Maya's voice came from the speakers.

"Yes, I'm breathing fine now," replied Erin. On the screens there was a sync-progress display that showed her interface with the Virtual EVA. After some progression of functions red lights turned into yellow, and then turned into green. In another few seconds a main graphic on the front screen now showed the vector graphic of an EVA, with the large words VIRTUAL EVANGELION ACTIVATED written besides it.

"Alright, I knew you'd sync in with it quickly. Now let's begin with some training to get the interface down. Ready?"

"Yes!" Erin's face showed a broad smile. Perhaps the Virtual EVA wasn't Unit 04, but she was glad to at least be piloting again, and in a way that she felt completely in her element. "Let's Go!"

* * *

 _Here we finally are with another installment. Fortunately this last month provided me with a few opportunities to write and I was able to bang this out in between work and family issues. As mentioned, we're in Japan and now fully in the hunt and finally we get to catch up to Rei and see that she's in a dire predicament indeed. Things are going to get even more sticky as we go so stay tuned._

 _Also, if you were paying attention you read that this chapter has a notable cameo. It's sort of a quirky thing but I was so impressed with the Shinkagelion x Evangelion matchup they did earlier last year that I've borrowed it and tweaked it a bit to fit our storyline._

 _Hopefully I can get another chapter out in about 3-4 weeks, before I have to go and travel again. I'll keep moving on this so please keep those reviews coming._


	17. Hole in my Heart

That morning Patrick arrived in Kumamoto station welcomed by giant images of the city's well-known mascot, a friendly black cartoon bear with rosy red cheeks that seemed to be emblazoned on virtually everything in sight. He hadn't slept on the train much the night before, instead staying awake in his very narrow sleeper bed and running over and over in his mind every clue or lead he could think of regarding Rei's disappearance.

Once off the train Patrick moved at a quick pace, walking fast through the early morning work commuters and students. He didn't bring a proper suitcase but instead had a single, black backpack that included tactical equipment as well as a small amount of clothes. At the bottom of the pack was a snub-nosed MP-5 with several clips, and he wore his Sig-Sauer holstered under his grey business suit.

Kaji had deliberately sent Patrick without much support, mostly to avoid attracting attention by having a uniformed police escort or anyone else around him that could give away his mission. He did have what amounted to an unlimited expense account however, which certainly made travel easier for him. With time of the essence Patrick was at least welcome for the financial backing he had.

Patrick found a cab driver at the station's front entrance, again avoiding using anything like a mobile app to call a rideshare in order to avoid someone tracking his movements. The black retro-looking Toyota sedan pulled up to the edge of the street and Patrick promptly jumped in, tossing his bag on the seat next to him. In his by now very fluent Japanese Patrick showed the driver the address of the Istuki Food Company. The driver, an older Japanese man that was neatly dressed with black vest and necktie, promptly nodded and started on the road. On the thirty-minute journey through difficult traffic there was no small talk between Patrick and the driver.

The Toyota cab pulled up in front of a large building complex of multi-storied glass windows and immaculately neat landscaping. Thanking the driver, Patrick paid him in cash and then grabbed his shoulder bag to hustle to the entrance. Once at the foyer, he found two young female receptionists and quickly presented his business card. The card itself was not for his actual job, but instead for his cover, as today he was Mr. Patrick Dunnigan of Universal Imports, Cambridge Massachusetts USA.

Speaking in English, Patrick introduced himself finding that both receptionists also spoke English quite well, and asked him to wait for a moment. After two minutes a tall woman of about twenty-five approached. She had a dark mocha complexion with large brown eyes and luscious black hair and she was quite tall, even looking more so on five inch heels and a camel-colored business suit.

"Mister Dunnigan," the lady said in flawless English. "We've been expecting you! Welcome to Itsuki Foods, my name is Kyoto DeSantos."

 _DeSantos? There's a story behind that name I'm sure._ "It's nice to meet you, Miss DeSantos," Patrick said while offering his hand. He didn't bow as one might do normally in Japan, and he wasn't sure if he really should in this case. However Kyoto instead bowed respectfully at first, treating him formally like any Japanese customer at the firm would have been. Patrick reciprocated with his own bow, and then again offered his hand which she took.

Miss Kyoto led him to an elevator, and once the car doors closed they spoke again. "Welcome to Isuki, Mr. Dunnigan," she said in Japanese. "Your employers contacted us yesterday and asked us to make sure we made you feel welcome."

"Well, you've certainly did that Miss De Santos," said Patrick. "I'm sorry, I can't help but ask: were you born here in Japan?"

The woman smiled. "I was. My family was here before Second Impact in fact. You speak Japanese quite well yourself."

"I lived in Hakone for a couple of years for school," Patrick told her, "so I guess I picked it up okay."

"Why are you here, Mr. Dunnigan?"

"Patrick, please," he told her, "Food quality investigation. There may be a fatality involved with one of your instant ramen products."

"Oh dear!" she said. "Never! Everything we make is of the highest quality! We have an excellent record here in Japan with all of our items."

"I have no doubt of it," said Patrick. "But I've been asked to investigate to make sure there hasn't been any foul play involved apart from your own manufacturing process. We're particularly concerned about distribution in this case."

"I see then. I'm sure our Chairman will be glad to assist you in any way he can."

"Time is of the essence in this matter so I sincerely hope that he can."

The elevator car doors opened and the two of them exited to the seventh floor, which was the top floor of the building. Kyoto lead Patrick through a very ornate hallway that flowed into another large office. Objects d'art such as paintings and sculptures were mounted on the walls, from a mix of both Japanese and foreign sources and while Patrick was no art critic to him they certainly looked expensive. _You can sure make a lot of money selling instant ramen…._

Kyoto opened up a set of large double doors to reveal the inner office of the chairman of the company, Mr. Tadeki Isuki, who was the grandson of the company's original founder. Aged in his late sixties, Isuki was short, heavy-set and balding but had a grandfather's kind face, and Patrick didn't get warning vibes from him at all on first glance. Isuki sat behind a simple desk, with a gigantic photo of children eating his instant ramen behind him, no doubt a reminder of his core business.

"Mr. Dunnigan, allow me to introduce you to Mr Isuki, the Chairman of Isuki Foods." This time Patrick started off with a respectful bow and a Japanese introduction, to which Isuki briefly bowed back and thrust his hand right towards Patrick. "It's very good to see you Mr. Dunningan!" he said. Isuki offered a seat to Patrick in front of his desk, which he noticed that there were several large three-ring binders all stacked on top. "Miss DeSantos, can you please excuse us? We have a matter of great importance to discuss."

"Of course, sir."

"And no more calls, thank you." With that his secretary left the room and the two men were alone.

"Thanks for seeing me on quick notice," Patrick said as Isuki reached behind his desk to grab two teacups.

"Your employers, your actual ones, were very clear this was an urgent matter," said the chairman while he prepared tea for him and Patrick. "Mr. Kaji also said he had the highest confidence in you, although I do have to admit I'm taken aback now that I've met you." Isuki gently placed a teacup in front of Patrick, and then for himself. "You seem considerably younger than I was expecting."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Patrick said.

"No matter, we will approach this with all due diligence." Isuki took his own seat. "I've seen the photos of the ramen wrapper, but do you have it with you now?"

Patrick reached into his backpack and pulled out a large zip-lock evidence bag that contained several wrappers as well as unopened ramen packs. "We found about twelve in all, with sequential numbers," Patrick told him as he opened up the evidence bag and dumped the instant ramen on the chairman's desk. "The lab still has a few packs but this is most of it."

Mr. Isuki pulled out a set of bifocals from his desk and replaced his glasses with them, then carefully examined the packages and wrappers. "They're all made from the same product lot, that's easy to determine. Here," offered the chairman and Patrick leaned in closely to see where he was pointing.

"Each package has a manufacturing code, called a lot number. We make our ramen in lots of 50,000 each."

"Every day?" asked Patrick who was now quite curious.

"Three daily shifts since two years ago, and two shifts since ten years ago."

"That's a lot of ramen!"

"It is. It's a popular product, and Kumamoto Savory is the most popular flavor in Kyushu since it was introduced decades ago. You think the person you're searching for may have been local to the area?"

"We think so," said Patrick. "These days there's a lot of ramen varieties even in America, but not this kind. Whoever bought it got it from here and came from here."

"I understand. Now let's try to narrow down where this might have gone." The chairman looked carefully at the manufacturing code again, and then pulled out a binder. Flipping through, he found what he was searching for and then again pointed it out to Patrick.

"According to the manufacturing code, these particular packages were manufactured on August 28th, more precisely between 8:32 and 8:34 am."

"Wait, you know the exact moment you made it?"

"Of course! We have a very modern manufacturing system here. Now from that it should be academic to determine how it was distributed. So….here's the final sequence, a box code. Kumamoto Savory is packaged in twenty packs to a box, and from the sequence everything here came from just one single box."

"Oh, good. So then finding where this box went should be easy, then."

"We'd hope so. Ah, here it is," he said as he looked through another binder. "Box 3347-77 was loaded onto delivery truck 245 on August 29th of last year, at approximately 5:30am. The truck then went on it's regular rounds."

"So all we have to do now is find out where it went."

"Yes, so we now check our transport ledger and….oh."

"Oh?!"

"Yes, unfortunately that's trouble."

"Why? What happened."

"The shipping log says on that day Truck 245 was delivering on the liquor store route in downtown Kumamoto City."

"That should be easy to trace then."

"It is, except that the liquor store route consists primarily of small, proprietary shops within the older parts of Kumamoto. These are places such as traditional liquor stores, train station outlets, and small family-run convenience stores. Few of these are larger accounts such as 7-11 or Lawson that have tracking for incoming food items. Most of these stores are low volume, and usually marginal business who don't often record when and where they get inventory once it's delivered." The chairman looked up at him. "I'm afraid to find your box you'll have to investigate each store one by one."

"How many on that route?"

"Thirty…maybe forty."

"And it was six months ago," said Patrick with resignation. "How often does the truck run that route?"

"Every week. We're unable to track which store that the box actually went to."

"Oh, shit," said Patrick aloud and he looked at his watch, seeing the time he had left to find Rei. 75:30, only a little more than three days to go. He took a deep breath of frustration and let it out, knowing what he'd have to do next. "Thank you for all of your help, Mr. Chairman. May I have the delivery route list please?"

* * *

Not long after Patrick's meeting at Isuki Foods, Kaji walked alone onto the campus of the Horikoshi Institute in the city of Sendai, a few hundred kilometers north of Tokyo-III. Sendai was a city based on industry, and most of the urban sprawl of the area was covered with either factories of all types of machines and vehicles, or housing and services for those who worked in the factories. The inner part of Sendai had a cultural district however and this is where the relatively small Horikoshi Institute was based.

From the outside the Institute didn't appear to be much more than another corporate campus with multiple undistinctive glass-walled buildings. The Horikoshi Institute however was a new engineering school with an eye on advanced technologies, and had made strenuous efforts in the last couple of years to attract both students and faculty with unusual talents or aspirations. It was here that Kaji would find his next suspect, as they now taught on the campus.

Dressed in a cold weather parka and scarf over a sweater and slacks, Kaji didn't look that much different from any other faculty member at the institute as he casually walked through the small urban campus. As it was a new school, Horikoshi was less than a city block in size, but was at least comfortable with some interior wide open common spaces were students could be seen sitting and studying, on their phones, or eating in between classes.

Kaji made his way to one of the lecture halls, inside a non-distinctive multi-story building. As he found his destination, he saw several students rush out of the hall, their faces pale white with the stress of academic pressure clearly visible. Among the group was heard the phrase "God, Rokubungi-Sensei is a real bastard!" Smiling at the mention of the name of his subject, Kaji knew he was in the right place.

He entered the lecture hall and looked around, seeing a couple dozen students crouched at their countertops working on what appeared to be a quiz. Seated at the bottom of the sunken-in auditorium was a middle-aged man with short cut dark, greying hair styled with bangs in front. He wore a grey casual jacket over a black turtleneck sweater and grey slacks. His hands were clasped in front of his chin and he stared through his glasses at the students while they completed their exams. Doctor Gendo Rokubungi, Associate Professor of Advanced Physics at Horikoshi, hadn't appeared to change in the last two years despite losing his beard.

"G'Day, Director!" A voice was heard to Kaji's right and he turned around to see another familiar face. Moria Wellington, a former NERV agent with the UK side of the organization and an early supporter of the Alliance, was seating in a student's chair at the very top of the lecture hall. She wore a brown pants suit with high black heels and looked very much at ease, her hear worn long and about and her ornamental Maori tattoed chin clearly visible. "You're a pleasant surprise! I wasn't expecting you'd come yourself."

"Hello, Wellington," Kaji said, shaking hands and then taking the seat next to her. "So, how's he been doing?"

"Oh, Doctor Wonderful enjoys it here," she told him. "Just look at how his students get along with him."

"They look miserable."

"Exactly." Kaji grinned at that. "Well, then he's adjusted well, it seems."

"It would seem so," Moira agreed. "Downright boring, at least until you get a few sakes into him and then he finally loosens up."

"So he drinks now?"

"Oh, he even does karaoke now! How about that?"

Kaji was skeptical. "That has to be heard to be believed. Have I been the only visitor he's received regarding this matter?"

"You're the only visitor _period_ ," said Wellington. "No contact from anyone on the outside world, aside from the occasional letter from one of the children. In the two years we've been doing this there hasn't been any hint of a violation of the NDA or other agreements he's got with you. Good o'Gendo's been a pretty good boy, all told."

"Still, I need to speak to him about this."

"He's got a long lunch today and then a lecture later in the afternoon. That should give you plenty of time."

"Thank you."

"Oh, and anything from Lusty? I know she's in the field but have you heard anything from her?"

Kaji shrugged. "Koji said she's in deep cover but he's keeping tabs as best he can. If anything comes up at all I'll be sure to let you know."

"Brave girl, she is," Wellington commented. "But sometimes she forgets she's human too."

"But what can you do with children who refuse to grow up?" replied Kaji. "She may have her time but it's not now, and at least for the moment she's the better for it."

Waiting until the last of the students finished their exam and left the lecture hall, Kaji got up and then walked down the steps towards the bottom. At the lecturer's desk Gendo was putting away his notes and then watched as Kaji walked towards him.

"Long time, no see, Commander," said Kaji.

Gendo gave a slight smile. "I'm a long way from those days, Director Kaji."

"Do you have a moment?"

Gendo led Kaji to his own office, perhaps a two minute walk from the lecture hall in the same building. His private area was the size of a closet, but cozy and clean, and Gendo kept it very organized. He offered Kaji a chair in front of his desk and then went to prepare tea for the two of them after closing the door.

"How is the academic life?" Kaji asked him.

"Didn't think I'd do well at first," Gendo answered as he poured tea into two cups. "But it's grown on me." He sat down both teacups on his desk and then took the chair opposite Kaji. "My colleagues tell me I'm the most feared man on campus."

Kaji laughed. "I'm sure you find that gratifying."

"You won't learn if you don't suffer," replied Gendo. "Those children may sweat blood but they'll at least know the material when they're done here."

"Quite."

"Did you take physics in college," Gendo asked Kaji.

"No, I considered anything like that to be quite radioactive and pursued much 'softer' subjects. Looking back on it I probably could have used a class or two after all. And then maybe a few more in Theology and Ethics."

"We all could have," Gendo said and then sipped his tea. After taking a sip and after a long quiet moment he let Kaji know he was ready.

"You of course know why I'm here."

"Jet Alone," said Gendo. "You're wondering what I know."

"Wellington said you hadn't been contacted by anyone we'd have an _interest_ in since you've been here, and I quite believe her. There are some that still suspect that you might be behind this."

"Given my reputation I suppose that's a rather natural presumption."

"The Japanese military is hapless to stop the unit," Kaji told him, "and the new government is reluctant to let NERV and the Alliance become involved. That means we will likely have to bail them out later when things get worse."

"Lessons still unlearned," Gendo quipped.

"What should we know about the unit that we don't already?"

"JHCI put in a large amount of money into the project," said Gendo, "and not all of that was their own. There was considerable outside financial and technical support."

"From where?"

"Several shell companies and investment firms, enough to where I suspected SEELE was behind JA from the very beginning."

"As a competitor to the EVA? Ritsuko told me once there were concerns that JA would bleed off funding for NERV."

"That was never the real issue," continued Gendo. "JA wasn't intended to fight the Angels, not without a functioning AT Field. What we were more concerned with was that JA would become a way to police NERV once the Angels war was finished."

"How would that happen? As you said if JA had no AT Field then encountering the EVAs would be a one-sided affair."

"If SEELE was behind it," Gendo answered, " then it's possible SEELE at least was interested if there was a way to give JA some of the abilities of an EVA. The Evangelion isn't simply a physical object, however, it's a meta-physical one, capable of working within both the physical and other dimensions. There may have been efforts to employ such a capability with JA. But," Gendo concluded, "if they did so it would have required extensive work beyond that initial prototype."

"And considering that when JHCI went bankrupt all that was left of the project was that prototype in Old Tokyo and the technical information for it only," said Kaji. "If there was a further effort, it wasn't discovered."

"Then that might explain what you're facing now," said Gendo. "But Ritsuko wasn't ever able to find anything further and at the time we had higher priorities anyway."

"I see." Kaji took another sip of his tea and so did Gendo. Then Gendo asked him "how are my children?"

"Well, Shinji's in Japan at the moment. Using his stage name he's giving a concert in New Kagoshima City."

"He's done well," Gendo said.

"Have you heard from him directly?" asked Kaji.

"He doesn't write, although I get the occasional postcard every few months. I think that's progress."

"All it will take is time."

"And about Rei?"

Kaji wanted to fish out if Gendo knew anything about her disappearance without appearing to do so. "Has she contacted you recently?"

"No, not recently," said Gendo. "I received one letter prior to Christmas and nothing further. She mentioned an operation."

"She had one at the end of last year," said Kaji. "Regarding her fertility."

Gendo didn't seemed either disturbed or alarmed by what Kaji told him, except that he didn't say anything at all, which Kaji took to be a possible tell. "Since then she's had some complications, but nothing too serious."

"I see," said Gendo, "then I hope she's successful despite how difficult the challenges are."

Kaji studied Gendo in that moment, trying to find anything in his face or in his mannerisms that would indicate that the man knew something of Rei's fate beyond what he was saying (which was nothing). The trouble with doing that was Gendo Rokubungi, who was once Gendo Ikari, was very well versed in how to wear a mask to the outside world. One could call him a master craftsman of such masks.

"I'll take care to keep you informed to her progress. In the meantime if you think of anything regarding JA or anything else, please do me the favor to contact me. Wellington has my direct line."

"Thank you, director. I'll keep that in mind."

As Kaji left Gendo in his office he walked down the hallway and then out of the building. Once outside and out of earshot he picked up his mobile phone and called one number.

Koji answered. "Yes, boss!"

"Did you find anything else regarding Shoji Tokiwa?"

"Bad news on that front. I met with the coroner's office of Tokyo-2 district today. They were supposed to have taken dental impressions to ID the body, but apparently after taking them the information was lost in the mail and a backup copy was also not made. The body was cremated not long after the found it."

"Rather convenient," said Kaji dryly.

"It's pretty sketchy in that coroners's office. I'm sure about fifty-thousand Yen or so found their way to a new home somewhere along the way."

"Considering the timing of his disappearance corresponds to the increase of activity of the cult, I think we may want to start considering linking the two cases."

"Seriously? That would be bad."

"Can you pursue the issue please?" Kaji asked. "This is something of a hunch but after the meeting I just had I believe there may be some substance to it."

"I'll get on it."  
"Any word from Lusty?"

"She's been welcomed into the group, and managed to get set up on an outgoing operation. Hoping that fishing line catches us something."

"Please be sure the sharks don't get her. Thanks." Kaji then hung up the phone.

* * *

In his office Gendo stared at the back of the door that Kaji had just left through. He waited a few moments to assure himself that Kaji nor anyone else would return, then took a long sip of his tea.

After setting down his cup, Gendo pulled out his desk drawer to again pick up the letter. He had also kept the outside envelope, to make sure it wasn't accidentally discarded and then picked up and analyzed by Alliance Intellgence or anyone else who saw fit to go through his trash, which he suspected happened on a regular basis.

Adjusting his eyeglasses, he read the letter one more time silently to himself. _Dear Commander, I need to write you now as I am about to embark on a course of action that will be very misunderstood…_

* * *

Erin spent all morning with the Virtual EVA, working on how to control the system with her body movements as well as how to interface with it to conduct defensive and offensive electronic attacks. The system had a way of using biofeedback to make the sensations haptic, where she could feel the unit respond when she did something, and while it took some time for her to work out the best way to control the unit by the time she had a groove Erin was able to even do some flips and have the Virtual EVA respond with quick movements in coordination. To her it was a bit like being back in the gymnasium, and that was a feeling she liked.

Finally spent out by one in the afternoon, Erin turned the system off and put away the controllers. She was sweaty and had already gone through several bottles of water (conveniently provided by the system room itself), and was in need of a rest. She put on her windsuit pants and runners and walked out of the control room. Much to her surprise standing in front of the doorway was Toji.

"Hey," he said quietly, smiling at her.

Erin was quite startled by this. "Oh, hi!" she said with her face blushing red. "Didn't expect to see you down here."

"They told me you were trying out the Virtual EVA, so I figured I'd have a look."

Erin was a little confused. "Did you see me inside there?" Instead of answering, Toji motioned to the wall and a video screen popped out. When it switched back on the interior of the Virtual EVA control room could be seen on the screen. "Been watching you for the last hour."

 _Watching me in my leotard no doubt._ "Didn't know I was putting on a show."

"You've still got it," he said with a grin.

Erin smiled back. "It felt good, actually. I think I needed something familiar after all this." The two of them just stood and looked at each other for a few seconds. They both had things they wanted to tell the other, and while the bond they once shared was now broken, it wasn't entirely severed.

"You got a few minutes?" Toji asked her. "I wanted to show you something."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess I do. Was going to get some lunch, though."

"If you can hold off a bit there's something I think you're gonna want to see."

The walk from the Virtual EVA control room to the surface deck of the GeoFront took about twenty minutes, and both Erin and Toji caught up with each other along the way.

"So," Erin asked first, "how was it going back home to Osaka?"

"Eh," clucked Toji. "I was looking forward to it at first but I can't say it's gone all that great."

"Why? What happened?"

"For starters, we're transfer students going into our 2nd year of high school. Just Hikari and I, so we knew nobody at the school. For me it wasn't so bad, I got on the B-Ball team right away, but Hikari-chan had some trouble fitting in."

"I guess she wasn't class rep there anymore, was she?"

"No, and it took a while for her to find a groove. She started in the Home Econ club, sort of a natural in her case, but got bored of it quickly and so she transferred to another club."

"Which one?"

"Junior business. She does much better there, in fact I think she's got a real knack for it. But in any case we're not going to stick around. We take this test next week and if we pass then we can skip the final year and then straight onto college. How 'bout you? Did you like your new school?"

"Oh, TNI is great!" said Erin. "Beautiful campus, lots of neat stuff. They have a MAGI system there and because of my experience at NERV-2 they've let me work with it."  
"Cool! Did you steal any EVAs while you were there?"

Erin laughed. "Oh, no. No chance. Also I went with the ballet thing along with Rei and that went well."

"Oh, I would have liked to see that. Not gymnastics?"

"TNI doesn't have sports yet, it's too new. They do have performing arts, and everyone's required to have at least one so it was a good fit."

Toji then asked the big question. "Find any new boys?"

"Oh, jeez," said Erin. "That didn't go so well."

"Really? I would think you wouldn't have any trouble finding a guy there."

"Finding a guy was not the problem. Getting screwed over by a guy was."

The boy looked at Erin with great concern. "Seriously? Because knowing you that surprises me."

"Let's just say that if something feels too good to be true it probably is, and it was."

The two of them travelled through several more corridors, many of them poorly lit or some not at all, and then finally reached a steel staircase that took them two flights upward to the GeoFront's open interior.

"Surprised you still know your way around here," Erin quipped.

"I watched them build this so I know the way pretty well. Anyway, here we are."

After reaching the surface Erin saw what looked like an elaborate garden carefully laid out in the GeoFront's open interior space. The glade was not that large, perhaps fifty feet by fifty feet in dimension, but contained several fields of roses and other bright flowers, a large reflecting pool of water bordered by marble blocks, and in the center a round marble rotunda with several Greek-style columns holding up a polished white marble dome. Small birds flew through the glade, stopping briefly to drink from the reflecting pool and then fly on their way. Erin was quite amazed.

"What…what _is_ this place?"

"Rei was the first to find it," explained Toji. "She had told Shinji about it when they were going up against the Angels. But it got trashed during whatever battles happened here. Rei mentioned it to Misato and she thought it might make a nice memorial if it was fixed up."

"Fixed up? This is a masterpiece!" Erin said as she twirled around the grounds. "Is this part of the Third Impact memorial?"

"No," Toji said. "No, this is just for us Pilots. Sort of a gift from NERV, you can say."

Erin explored the grounds, walking through the flower beds and seeing herself in the reflecting pool. She then walked over to the round temple, itself an exquisite work of white marble that looked perfectly shaped. As she felt the outer surface she saw steps and walked inside of the temple, and Toji followed her closely behind.

The interior was as beautiful as the exterior, and looking up Erin saw a fresco painting with classical angels (not the kind NERV had fought) all decorating the round dome. In the center were a smaller group of what looked like cherubim angels with little wings and cheery faces.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"Yeah," said Toji. "There's a bit more to it though." Erin wondered what he meant and he showed her what was carved into the inside walls of the temple.

 _I am hollow with loss and harrowed by pain,_

 _yet here you stand, lightened of all strife,_

 _at peace in the land of Paradise._

Erin read the inscription aloud, and then saw what else was carved not far from it.

MANA KIRISHIMA

She looked at Toji. "Wasn't that the girl that tried to infiltrate NERV in the beginning? Mari told me about her."

"Yeah," Toji said. "She was in the T-RIDEN-T unit when it was bombed. They never found a body."

Erin continued looking and noticed that there were three other names carved into the insides of the memorial.

KAWORU NAGISA

"Creepy Weird Angel boy," said Erin.

"They didn't mean that guy you ran into at SEELE-2. This was the first time around, 17th Angel."

"Why is he here? He wasn't one of us."

Toji tried to explain. "Well, yes and no. He was an EVA pilot, and he and Shinji had this rather…unusually deep relationship. In the end whatever he was, if he was an Angel or just a kid or both, he was just being used by those assholes. Just like Kirishima-chan was. So he belongs here."

Erin went along the interior further and found another name.

KENSUKE AIDA

This time Toji walked forward and put his palm next to the name, gently feeling the letters. "Hey," he said with familiarity, almost at a whisper. "How you doin?"

Erin took a deep breath and let it out slow. "I won't argue with this one."

"Yeah, no one will, "said Toji as he took his hand off the inscription. "He liked you, you know."

"What?!"

"At the end of everything I got his camera, and when I went through the photos your picture was there, right at the end of the image roll."

"How? I mean…"  
"You don't remember? I guess I never told you. He bumped into you at the top of the GeoFront when you first showed up. He took photos on his way to get suited up, then just before he gets in the EVA he calls me from the cage and says 'met this really cute girl. I think she's Patrick's twin.' You were the last person on his mind."

"Great," Erin replied with resignation. "I finally meet a decent boy and I end up killing him."

"You didn't kill him."

"Didn't I? I just stood there and let it happen."

"You didn't do it," Toji admonished. "And the guys who did got what was comin' to them. End of story."

"I had my own part to play in that."

"And you've more than made up for that, Erin," said Toji.

"So what are you going to do now? Tell me to let it all go?"

"I'm not going to tell you. He is." Toji then pointed at the last name carved onto the memorial.

VANCE VINSON

Erin was shocked at the sight of the name. "But…but…why is _his_ name here?"

"Same as all the others," Toji shrugged. "He's still a pilot after all."

"He tried to kill Rei! He tried to steal an S2!"

"Surprised you wouldn't stick up for him," said Toji. "I'd thought you'd be okay with him on a memorial like this."

"I…I…I don't know," Erin finally said with resignation. "I guess he belongs but…." Erin looked at the name carved into the marble. She had told herself that she could forget about Vance, that she could move on and give herself a new chance for happiness in a new life. But after months of trying to do exactly that she knew she still had a Vance-shaped hole in her heart, and it wasn't going away.

"Why did you date me?" Toji asked her.

"I thought you were pretty cute, kinda in a rugged sort of way," Erin told him. "And the timing was good."

"I admit you came along at just the right time. Hikari-chan and I were, well, she was still dealing with her turn piloting and all and got sort of too bossy there. And then you showed up."

"We were in the gym, basketball on one side…"

"and gymnastics on the other," Toji continued.

"And we had one heck of a summer," Erin finished, smiling at him. "But it couldn't last."

"I liked that summer. It was fun."

"You remember the first date?"

"I remember a girl who couldn't figure out why her soda bottle had a marble in it."

Erin laughed. "Oh, yes. That was so stupid and you just sat there and laughed at me."

"I think I made it up to you later that day. On the lake rowboat."

"Yes, you did. And I remember Tachibana too!"

"I remember you wearing a _Yugata_."

"You did, and I still have it! Tucked away somewhere. And you caught all those goldfish."

"I still have one of those…"  
"Really?"

"Sakura-chan takes care of it. She's named it after you."

"But I made trouble for you and your family," said Erin in a more serious tone. "They clearly weren't happy we were seeing each other."

"Well, it's true they did prefer Hikari-chan. I mean, my dad and her dad do business together, and they were forming a company together. So we all hang out and stuff all the time and I guess that got all awkward. Then there was that even when we broke up she never stopped caring for my family. She'd still come over and bring lunch or something to dad and gramps and to Sakura-chan. She kept at it."

"And she kept at you, too."

"She did. Anyway, I guess we had a good run through. But why did you date me?"

"I just told you!"

"But there was one more reason why, wasn't there?"

"Like what?"

"Like I was the last guy in your old boyfriend's EVA unit."

"So?" Erin argued. "That doesn't make you _him_."

"But it brought you that much closer," Toji told her. "You didn't have to let him go if you could just pretend I was him for a while."

"You really thought so?"

"Don't you?" countered Toji. "Maybe it was just the way you looked at me, or how you'd drift if we started talking about what happened before. Kinda hoping he was still around."

"It is true," Erin said after a while. "If maybe the timing of things was different, he's still be around. He would have been twisted around like that."

"But he's not."

"No, he's not, is he?"

At this point with so memories flooding her mind Erin couldn't stand still anymore. She rushed towards Toji and embraced him. She didn't care that he was taken, she just wanted to be held by someone who she knew, who at least once loved her.

"I….I screwed up," she told him, fighting back tears. "I've made a mess of things! I always make a mess of things."

"Welcome to the club," Toji said as he put his arms around her and held her tight. "None of us get this stuff right."

"I want to go back to the way it was," Erin said. "I just want to go back."

"I know that feeling too. But…we can't do nothin' about it."

"What can I do?"

Toji took her and held her arms gently. "Maybe you're just doing too much. You're trying so hard to live all you can. Take a step back, take a breath. _Be_ something for a change."

"Be something? But what am I?"

"You're beautiful," he told her. "Ain't that good enough for you?"

Erin couldn't reply, and instead pressed herself against Toji and buried her head in his chest and cried.

* * *

 _I recently saw Weathering with You, the latest Makoto Shinkai film and really loved it. Great story, great visuals, lots of heart and humor. Had such an impact on me that it made me want to be a better writer and that got me motivated. So off I went and banged out another chapter._

 _We get a couple of little scenes here that help color the background of the story. We see Gendo in his post-NERV career as a professor and find out he may still have some secrets of his own. And yes there's that twist with Erin and Toji. This wasn't something that I just threw in there, I had actually been working on a Erin/Toji paring for a while and playing with different scenarios. We only get a snapshot of what turned out to be a summer fling between them, but I thought it helped better develop both characters._

 _Next chapter is already in progress, hope to have it done soon. Things will definitely pick up as action is forthcoming. As always reviews are greatly appreciated._


	18. Nyotaimori

_**Tokyo-3**_

The following morning Misato led a group of NERV staffers and returnees into the old command center, the cavernous central hub of NERV's Evangelion operations during the wars of years before. Since NERV's decommissioning the center had not been used at all but was simply mothballed, sealed up and left alone in darkened silence. That was until today.

As the double doors opened, a hiss of air was heard and a cloud of dust travelled towards the group, resulting in a flood of coughs. Undaunted Misato walked forward and found the power controls just to the inside right of the opening. With a flick of a few switches giant LED lights went on all over the center, revealing the full interior of the room in green and grey painted steel. The massive forward screen started to run though a opening sequence while other lights appeared all around as the control center warmed up out of its years-long slumber.

Following Misato were both of the Hyugas along with Aoi Mogami and a group of technicians whose job it was to get the control room ready for action. The three senior officers took a long look at the room that had been their home base for many battles in the past.

"Looks mostly like it did before," said Major Hyuga.

"How long do you think it'll take us to get it ready?" Misato asked the Major.

"Could take all day, we're still short-staffed." As they spoke Maya wobbled over to the controllers station, sitting at the station that was once her own. She blew off dust from the surface of the controller, with a thick layer indicating just how long the station had been abandoned. Maya started to go through several diagnostics as Aoi sat at the center station and worked on her own checklists.

"At least the MAGI are still fully operational," said Maya. "We can utilize the base control programs and eliminate the need for a lot of the operations terminals, that allows us to function with a skeleton crew." With some effort she was able to get the central holographic display to turn on, and as it went through it's startup sequence Maya swiveled around the chair and faced the others. "There!" she said, "Just like before."

As the technicians opened up panels and compartments to perform repairs or add in new components, the senior staff was joined by Commander Burke, who walked into the command room and then rode the mobile platform down to the operator's deck, joined by both Kaji and Satsuki. While Kaji and the commander spoke with Misato and the Hyugas, Satsuki walked to the open controller station and sat down, starting her own setup.

"Good morning, people," Burke greeted the others. "Are we getting ready for the big game?"

"You still think JA will come here?" said Makoto.

"Considering who stopped it last time I'd think revenge wouldn't be far from it's mind, even if it's a computer mind," said Burke. "Doctor Hyuga, how is progress with the EVAs?"

"Sir, as you know we only have one operational unit we can use, and I've got Kodama supervising pilot synchronization with Unit 09 now. We did activate the Virtual EVA as well, and its pilot is getting acquainted with the system. For right now unless we get Unit 01's pilot back we can't do much more."

"Where's your nanny?" Kaji asked Misato. He was referring to the government's new liaison, Wantanabe.

"She was on the phone all day yesterday, and still on the phone when I walked by her office this morning on the way here," Misato told him. "Whatever she's doing she's pretty busy doing it. Any updates for JA?"

"JAF reported seeing JA on the western shore around Niigata around two hours ago headed North," reported Kaji. "JA shot down another drone with one of it's lasers and then evaded detection. Alliance fleet has lent us a couple of their submarines to try and find it if it's the ocean or close by."

"So at least it's going in the opposite direction," said Misato. "Hopefully that gives us enough time to get our act together."

* * *

 _ **Shin-Kagoshima City**_

Before every one of Shinji's concerts he and Asuka had a ritual that they performed for good luck. His sponsors in New Kagoshima had kindly provided him with a luxury hotel room complete with a very spacious King-sized bed which both him and Asuka now took full advantage of in pursuit of this.

Both of them quietly lay there in bed naked, holding hands and covered by the comforter, the only sound being that of the in-wall fireplace of the hotel room. It was a nice, peaceful moment and for Shini it was the calm before the storm of the performance.

"I can't believe you actually volunteered to pilot?" said Asuka. "I thought you were done with this?"

Shinji turned his head to see her. He loved seeing Asuka like this, with her red hair spilled all around the bed and her lying nudged next to him. _She is just so beautiful naked_ , he thought.

"What else could I do?" he answered. "Rei's not around, so who else is going to do it?"

"They've got other pilots still," countered Asuka. "It's not like you have to go back. Do you miss it that much?"

"No, I don't," said Shinji. "But…I thought if they could use me then…"

"I doubt they can use you at a six-percent sync ratio. You'd probably just get in the way trying to be a hero again."

"Well, Misato said no and that was that. So here I am."

"Umm hmm," purred Asuka, nudging closer and gently running her fingers down Shinji's chest. "And here you are. You're just a spectator now." Shinji closed his eyes and took a deep breath as she toyed with his nipples.

"Would you have gone?" he asked her. Asuka sighed a little as she continued to run her fingers down Shinji's naked body. "I told myself a long time ago I wasn't gonna look back anymore," she said softly. "I mean, at first I only wanted live for piloting EVA. Then I wanted to die piloting. Then I wanted to live again for piloting. And then finally I gave up all about piloting. And that's that."

Shinji turned around and gently drew her close to him, running his own hands down the side of Asuka's body while she continued to slowly touch him. "But don't you wish you could do it again? I mean, after you got back from SEELE-2 you never went in your EVA again, ever. Don't you think about her?"

"I do but, I think she's done too," said Asuka. "It's over for us, and I'm okay with that now."

"But you don't ever think about it, do you?"

Asuka did give it some thought as she put her leg around Shinji and ran her fingers through his hair. "I got what I wanted out of it and I'm still alive at the end. Didn't really think that would happen. EVA just took so much from me that I don't want to look back. Is that wrong?"

"No."

"And you're not happy with what you're doing now?"

"You mean right at this moment?" Asuka smiled at him. "Yeah, right at this moment. You're not happy with this?"

"Oh," said Shinji, "I'm very happy with this part of it." Gently he moved above her. "Didn't really think that this would happen either."

"Then keep your mind on your business," she told him gently, caressing his cheek. "Cause you've got more important work to do now and you're not finished yet."

Shinji smiled at her and feeling ready, put both of his hands on the bed on either side of Asuka's head and leaned in to kiss her, making a slow, lingering and deep kiss as she put her arms around him.

"Then I'd better get to work," he said quietly. Just before making his entry, he asked her "Just once I'd like to skip the concert and keep doing this instead."

Asuka looked straight into his eyes as she again made ready to be one with him. " _Sukebe_."

* * *

The concert went rather well, taking place in a smaller yet well adorned assembly hall in New Kagoshima City that was right on the city's waterfront. Shinji played along with the local orchestra and despite there only being a rehearsal the day before the whole set came together without a glitch. He played two pieces on cello, one being Saint-Saiens "The Swan" which was a favorite of his, and other being one of Mendellsons's cello sonatas which was not as sweet but more technically difficult, and something that provided him a chance to show his developing skill with the instrument.

Unlike prior efforts Asuka didn't join in as part of the orchestra along with her own violin but instead remained backstage, observing the concert from the sidelines. As she watched the concert, Asuka observed that the assembly crowd was less than half-full, which she attributed to the increasing public fear of Jet Alone roaming around Japan. _Would that stupid robot come here_? she wondered. _Not like we could just stop it with music, could we?_

In all the concert lasted about an hour and Shinji was again introduced to the audience to take bows. Despite doing this for a few concerts already, Asuka was always taken aback by Shinji's embarrassment at the accolades from the audience. _I'll never understand that about the boy. You completely own that cello yet you act like you're still in middle school when everyone praises you for it._

After it all Shinji walked backstage to a waiting Asuka, who promptly gave him an embrace and then whispered in his ear "let's get the hell out of here."

"I can't," he told her. "They invited us to a reception."

"So!?"

"So, I can't back out of it. I mean they paid for the trip and everything."

"If they brought you a tissue would you sneeze in it?"

"Asuka..."

"Never mind, don't answer that."

"Excuse me," the two of them turned around and saw a tall Japanese man about six feet four standing behind them. "Mister Kaji? Would you care to join us? We'd appreciate it you could come to our little event, it's just next door."

"Um, of course!" Shinji said, nudging to Asuka that they needed to come. Asuka blew her hair up in frustration and walked off towards the direction the man was leading towards. "At least I hope the food is good," she said as she turned her back to Shinji. Resigned and by now quite used to Asuka's antics, Shinji simply followed along.

Following ten feet behind the couple were two larger men in tuxedos, both German and both agents of the Alliance responsible for Shinji and Asuka's personal security. They trailed along as the couple followed their host towards a ballroom within the same concert hall that was perhaps a five minute walk from the stage.

Like his host and the two security men, Shinji wore a relatively simple black tuxedo, his now long hair tied in back in a single ponytail. Asuka wore an elegant sequined black dress that was off-shoulder, with a slit on the skirt leading up to the higher area of her thigh and black high heels. Her hair was worn long and curled out, unusually "poofy" for her style but still eye-catching as always.

"Please, Mister Kaji," said the tall host as they came to the reception. As they entered the ballroom, they glanced around and saw perhaps fifty or so men, mostly older Japanese along with their wives or mistresses, all of them dressed in formal attire. There were several others, mostly attendees serving drinks or food, and classical music played on speakers from above.

"Boring," Asuka whispered to Shinji as they entered. But Shinji just rolled his eyes and pushed down his feelings. He didn't want to be rude to his hosts, and besides he was quite hungry.

As their two security guards tried to enter the ballroom, the tall host was joined by another two men, also very tall and large. One of the Alliance team reached into his coat pocket to show his ID, but was still stopped by the host bouncers. "You're not invited!" said the bouncer in English.

"Um, they're with us!" said Shinji as he turned back. "They go wherever we go."

"I'm so sorry, Mister Kaji," said the first tall host. "Unfortunately we've recently had some others who have tried to use fake identification to gain entry to events in the city," he explained. "Our security team has very strict instructions to screen carefully. Give me a few minutes and we'll attend to this."

Shinji looked at his own security man who he had gotten to know well within the last year. The large German agent simply glanced back and nodded, allowing Shinji to not worry about him for the moment. Shinji then looked for Asuka but she had already gone well deep into the reception crowd, already attracting attention from some of the others guests. Unsure of what he should exactly do, Shinji preferred to wait for both of the bodyguards to be cleared to enter until another person, this time an older man of medium height wearing a sparkly-trimmed tuxedo approached him.

"Ah, Mister Kaji!" said the man. "So glad you could make it!"

"Uh….yeah. Thanks for inviting me."

"It was our honor, my young man. The concert was exquisite, you play extraordinarily well!"

"Well, thank you, I…"

"Come, let me introduce you to some of the others here."

"But what about the rest of my party? They're still trying to get in."

"No worries, I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding. I'll see to it personally that it's taken care of. Now if you'll join me right this way please!" Reluctantly Shinji followed, glancing back at his two friends to make sure they were alright. The agent looked at Shinji and briefly touched his nose.

 _Trouble._

Shinji nodded and then went with the hosts, leaving the men there.

As the agent argued with the two bouncers, his companion very quickly reached for his watch and hit a single button that sent out a signal, a signal that was received several hundred kilometers away.

* * *

Kaji felt a buzz on his own mobile phone and quickly picked it up. He was standing inside of NERV's command center, just a few feet from Misato as she barked orders for the operations staff to get ready for action. A code flashed on his text message app, a code that meant danger. Without telling the others, Kaji immediately texted another number, send a single coded message, and then put the phone back in his pocket.

* * *

For a few minutes Shinji found again the center of attention, as many of the reception's attendees shook his hand and expressed gratitude for his performance. Asuka was still busy with other guests, some of who had recognized her, and was dealing with others who wanted to meet her. Beginning to feel bewildered and stressed from the attention, Shinji waited for the right moment and then excused himself from the crowd to go to the restroom.

He didn't actually intend to go to the bathroom, but instead went for the far wall of the ballroom. Searching the room with his back to the wall, he saw neither of his bodyguards were present and now he became worried. Trouble, one of them had signaled. With Rei recently abducted, Shinji now worried for Asuka and himself.

Shinji heard a gurgling from his stomach. _I've been so busy here I've forgotten to eat_. He looked around to see what there was and saw a section of the room had been draped off, but there were people going in and out and some of them carried plates of food. He then walked briskly towards the section.

After passing through the drapes Shinji saw how the food was presented and immediately understood why it was draped off. Instead of regular buffet tables there was sushi and sashimi served on very unique platforms: the bodies of naked women.

 _Oh my God. I've only heard about stuff like this but what kind of host does this?_

There were six women all laying stationary, with stacks of sushi artistically assembled all around their bodies, with apparently no other type of clothing. The other guests apparently paid this no mind, happily using chopsticks to select and pick off bits of seafood and rice from their servers, sometimes using their utensils to also take ginger or another condiment just like it was another buffet. It was then when Shinji noticed something about the guests.

 _It's all older generation people here. If SEELE still had friends in Japan, it would be cranky old Japanese guys with this sort of appetite._

 _Should I leave? Because I'm really starving._

Shinji looked around again for anyone he knew to bail him out, including Asuka, but no one was in sight. He glanced down at the naked woman transformed into a table next to him and then shot his glaze right back up. _Oh, God. She really is naked. If I was still a virgin I'd probably have a nosebleed by now…._

"Try the tuna," a cheerful voice said to him.

Shinji heard the voice and looked around. _Who was that?_

"Or try the yellowtail. They're most delish!"

 _I know that voice._

"The sea urchin's good too, you know." Shinji looked down at the woman. She was slender and slightly taller than most Japanese girls, and looked about her late teens with nearly pearl white skin. All along her body was a spread of various types of sushi and sashimi, most of which was placed very strategically along her abdomen and her breasts. Her long brown hair was spread all around but uniquely she had crystal blue eyes.

 _Blue eyes? Oh, no it can't be! Not here!_

"Come on, Puppy-kun. Take one. I won't bite."

"Lusty-chan!" Shinji whispered without looking down at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Working," she said.

"This is your job?" he said. "I'm so sorry you ended up at a job like this, I thought you were doing alright."

"Oh, it's not like that," she replied. "You look famished, at least eat something. Otherwise I might get in trouble here."

"But…but…but…"

"Don't be shy. Look for the sweet shrimp, they're quite good."

Shinji didn't want to look down at her for anything, especially if Asuka were to suddenly come barging into the serving area. That would be beyond catastrophic considering Asuka's notoriously easily-triggered jealousy.

"They're right between my legs, on top of that seaweed leaf. Just help yourself."

Finding a pair of chopsticks next to her Shinji gently took the pair and tried to grab the sushi without actually looking down, an effort that proved impossible. He glanced again, searching for the sweet shrimp and finding it on top of a broad green leaf that was placed right on top of Mari's crotch. Shinji quickly looked upwards again.

 _Shit…_

Not wanting to disappoint anyone, he blindly grabbed for the sushi and got it, then plopped it down on a small plate.

"Terrific," Mari said. "Now don't forget the wasabi."

"Where's that?"

"Swirled around my breast. Go on, have a go."

 _I do not believe I am actually doing this_. Shinji very, very carefully took the tip of the chopsticks and lifted just the barest amount of wasabi without looking down. Dabbing on his plate, he felt his heart racing and it was when he got the nudge on his shoulder.

"Baka!" said Asuka. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

Shinji jumped in panic, nearly dropping his plate. "Asuka!"

"What a sick bastard this guy is. Eating sushi off of naked girls, really? Such a pig, whoever he is."

"Asuka, have you seen our escorts?" Shinji asked her, suddenly remembering why he was so concerned.

"No, I've been busy. Even here it seems I have fans."

"Something's wrong about all of this. Can we just go?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah, duh!" Relieved to finally put the whole embarrassing experience behind him, Shinji reflexively reached down to eat the single piece of sushi on his plate. Asuka beat him too it, grabbing the piece with her hand and plopping it down in her mouth. After taking a bite, she said "hmm, tastes funny. Anyway, let's go." She then grabbed Shinji's hand and started to half-drag him in haste out of the ballroom. The two of them made it perhaps six feet away from the sushi table when the lights suddenly went out. As the ballroom had no windows to the outside, the interior was completely pitch black. A klaxon sounded loudly, followed by the sound of water.

"Fire alarm!" said Shinji, feeling the ceiling sprinklers suddenly downpour rain on them.

"Let's get the hell out of there," replied Asuka as she grabbed his hand. But in the darkness something overcame both of them. Asuka suddenly let go and Shinji felt a hard thud behind his shoulder blades and immediately went limp, drifting out of consciousness soon afterwards.

* * *

 _ **Tokyo-3**_

After a second day of training in the Virtual EVA system, Erin was exhausted but at least pleased with herself enough to be getting the hang of working with the full body controllers. She had spent four hours in the virtual reality room doing flips, pounces, and leaps in conjunction with simulated attacks, combining her physical talents with her mental ones as she worked out tactics on how to use the Virtual EVA. It was however very physically taxing and even with several breaks she was drained from constant activity, a reminder that college life hadn't kept her body in the best shape even with her ballet training. Tired after a long day, she made her way back to the pilot's quarters in the GeoFront and entered to noisy acrimony.

The large suite was now crowded with the collection of children, younger and older, that had found themselves at NERV as they or their parents were called on. Nozomi, Hikari's younger sister, had parked herself in front of the wide-screen monitor, engaged in in a never-ending series of mecha combat games along with Hayato as the two of them sat cross-legged on the floor on a cushion and continually grappled with their wireless controllers in front of the screen.

Watching them from a distance was Sakura Suzahara, who was keeping careful eye on an eighteen month-old girl in a set-up playpen not far from the others. Inside was Akemi, Makoto and Maya Hyuga's baby daughter, who was captivated by the action on the giant video monitor, and was standing up against the bars of the wooden crib watching the others play while making noises and gurgles of her own.

Also under Sakura's watchful care was Akira, Misato's young son, who did what he nearly always did while his parents were away: play with his pint-sized penguin playmate PenPen. The two of them, each wearing a matching denim set of overalls, tumbled around the room while screaming and hitting each other with various toys as Sakura occasionally intervened.

Hikari was busy in the kitchenette part of the suite working on dinner for the crew, as well as Toji who was assisting her. It was Hikari who had greeted Erin when she had entered. "Hi, Erin-chan," she said cheerfully. "How was your training?"

"I'm wiped out!" said Erin, "I spent all day in that thing."

"I'm working on dinner, so just hang on please." Erin found a seat across from the kitchenette where she could relax and watch the video game action. As she sat down her glance turned to Toji, who was helping Hikari by chopping up carrots on the countertop. Erin's eyes met his and he gave her a small smile that she answered with one of her own. Their small moment of intimacy the day before was now just another memory between them. She pushed it out of her mind as she took a sip from a water bottle, and pushed her mind to come back to the here and now.

The phone rang and Hikari quickly juggled frying pan and cooking spatula with phone handset, not missing a beat. "Hello? Yes, it's she." Hikari listened as the other party explained their situation. "Oh, well we're crowded here but I'm sure we can squeeze him in. I'll put him in with Hayato, his room has an extra bed. Will he be okay with Japanese food?" The other party confirmed this and then finished the arrangements. "Great, I'll be happy to meet him. Thanks, bye!" Hikari then hung up the phone.

"How long are we gonna be here?" asked Nozomi as she played her game. "This place is always so boring."

"What we're all doing is important," Hikari replied. "Hopefully it'll all be over soon, but until then just be ready."

Coming from the bathroom, PenPen waddled into the open suite. Erin smiled on seeing him, and quickly picked him up. "Hey, buddy!" she told the little bird. "Haven't seen you in a while!" She patted his stomach and the penguin cooed a little. "You've certainly gotten a lot more fat since I saw you last."

"Misato-san just spoils him," Hikari said. "I don't know much about penguins but I don't think they're supposed to be eating people food all the time. Or drinking alcohol every day."

"I'm sure she's just glad to still have him around. Besides, they live for about twenty or thirty years, right?"

Akira walked over to Erin and pointed his finger at the bird. "PenPen!" he called out.

"You wanna play with him?" Akira nodded excitedly and Erin put down the penguin and watched as the two of them held hand with wing and walked around the room.

Sakura, now holding baby Akemi in her arms, walked up to Erin. "Have you heard anything about Rei-chan?"

"No," Erin told her. "Bro texted me not long ago, he's still tracking down who might have taken her. It didn't sound like he was making progress."

"That's worrisome," replied Sakura. "I wish she were here."

"We all do."

* * *

In the command center after most of the day the core staff decided to take turns at the stations along with relief crew. Misato and the senior officers left to rest and regroup as Sasuki and Aoi sat at two of the controller's stations and monitored everything. There was only a skeleton staff now within the cavernous control room, and without the full staff inside the spacious area had a deathly quiet about it.

"Never thought I'd be back here again," Satsuki told Aoi as she again checked dispatch messages from local authorities around the Fuji area.

"I never thought we'd ever use the room again, " quipped Aoi. "I don't think I've even been inside here since that last battle years ago. Hey," she asked Satsuki. "Have you heard anything from Kaede lately?"

"Don't you know?" Satsuki said. "She's on her second kid already. Gave birth to another boy last month."

"Wow! She turned out to be fertile."

"Not just her. Seems like everyone I know is getting hooked up and having kids, lots of them. Speaking of which," Satsuki pried. "How's _your_ dating situation going?"

"Oh, don't put it like that. I've got enough dealing with this place."  
"Well, I've heard that's not quite true. You do have someone you're seeing, right?" Satsuki smiled at winked at her. "Someone who has a very extreme manga habit."

Aoi's face immediately blushed bright red. "Um…I'm really not comfortable talking about this…"

"Oh, girl. Don't forget I'm with Alliance Intelligence now. And we know everything, including whether or not you and Commander Burke are…"

Aoi practically leapt from her station over to Satsuki's chair. "Shhh!"

Satsuki smiled slyly at her co-worker. "So it is true."

"It's not like I'm sort of social climber or anything," Aoi whispered as she looked around, hoping all of the few others in the command center hadn't listened in on her conversation. "I mean, who was I to know he was such a comic book nerd? But we have a common interest and one thing led to another and…"

"Umm hmm," Sasuki purred. "Sure it did."

Aoi stood up and pulled her uniform tunic down straight. "I am not going to talk about this right now. Its not like you don't have a handsome boss either."

"Oh, it's not even like that with the director," said Satsuki. "Besides, he is definitely not my type. Definitely." Before the two ladies could continue the Satsuki's console beeped and she swiveled around in her chair to check it as Aoi also studied what just happened.

"Hmm, reports of power outages nearby."

"Where?"

"Oyama," said Satsuki. "And now another report from….Ashigara."

"That's just north of here," observed Aoi. The two women looked at each other and made a common realization.

"Call the colonel," ordered Satsuki, and Aoi rushed to her own console to pick up the phone. Satsuki then changed the monitor aspect to reflect the real-time cameras from both NERV and the Alliance's geostationary satellite above Japan. Placing the views on the larger screens in front of them, the video showed a large blacked-out area miles around Tokyo-3 and the GeoFront, with more areas being blacked out by the second.

"Colonel Katsuragi? It's Mogami in command center, get up here quick! Something's happening."

"Gotemba just reported a sudden city-wide blackout."

"What is it?" Aoi asked.

"Whatever it is it's moving closer to us."

It didn't take long for Misato and Hyuga to rush into the command center and onto the operations deck, followed by Kodama and a struggling Maya. "What's happening?" demanded Misato.

"Something bad…" was Aoi's singing reply. Kodama sat herself down at the right-handed console, Maya's old station, as the other two officers worked to localize the threat.

"There's a channel of power outages leading right up to Tokyo-3," Satsuki reported.

Misato feared the worst. "Can we get visual on it?"

"Trying drone cameras…now."

Another screen showed an infra-red image of a giant bipedal humanoid appearing object that was walking fast towards the GeoFront with its arms swinging wide as it paced. The head was compacted into its bulbously large body, and giant rods stuck out of its backside. There was only one robot in the world as ugly at this particular one.

"It's Jet Alone!" shouted Makoto Hyuga. "It's come!"

* * *

 _I hope that was entertaining. The after-concert banquet scene was something that I had sketched out years go and was just waiting for a good chance to drop it into one of the stories._

 _The action is now getting rolling, so expect a lot more. Can't wait to get going on the next couple of chapters, will try to crank them out as soon as I can._


End file.
